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Available on ebay, I love it. I have no idea why more stores don't carry it. you can buy it empty or all filled up. I bought it empty because I didn't know it even existed and then found it while searching... it fits 8 crochet hooks. One is missing in the photos because I'm using it for my Amigurumi!
It's adorable and small! it's not as bright as it is photographing, it's more of a deeper color in person.
When you live an hour outside the city like we do, it's always fun to get mail. I just get SO excited about mail! The day before yesterday I got 3 wonderful things in the mail. My IK magazine sent back form my parents house, a full set of those nice ergo clover crochet hooks in all the sizes availible, and my unspun icelandic from schoolhouse press! I was flipping out at all the packages to open!
Also I was on Ravelry and wound up talking to Spazzmanda who is a knitting buddy from a while ago, before I got pregnant and became a hermit! She told me she was heading to knitting group and it isn't too far from my house and I very much wanted to thank her in person for knitting Sydney the big cute teddy. I am not entirely sure I actually said thank you in person, in fact I think I called her demented because she was cross stitching a scene from Fargo. That's something that I am guessing would get about 30 hearts on Raverly if it contained cross stitch projects. it was hella cool, but that movie gave me nightmares for weeks. So oh yeah, Thanks again Amanda. Sydney adores her teddy :)
Here is my husbands cousin knitting! Her first swearer is on size US 1 and US 3 needles, and has eyelets. Good thing it's a baby sweater huh? She was in town this weekend so I dragged her along with me, but I don't think she minded as she is a knitter too!
So here are those lovely wheels of Unpsun Icelandic. It's dyed so niceley in a sort of variegated and heather-ed sort of way.
I nearly freaked out after I made a posting to an EZ group on Ravelry and got a response from Meg Swanson herself! Who doesn't love Ravelry???
Here is my progress:
I also finished the head for my little Amigurumi teddy bear, on the correct sized needle this time. I have been doing all of this knitting while Baby Girl is sleeping, which is sometimes a lot and sometimes very little!
Well I knew that already but now I have physical proof lol. Thanks to this fantastic video I was able to finally create a Magic Ring with success! The person in the video did something slightly different with their fingers then I have seen before, and it kept it night and tight and clean. More info about how a magic ring compares to "ch 2, sc 8 into 2nd ch from hook" which I was able to do months ago, but hated.
I knew I was using to big a needle (waiting for a set to arrive in the mail), look at how big this is in my hands and then in the book photos:
VS
(if you click on a photo and go to flickr you can see more cool FO's from the books!)
Check out the hair on this impressive doll.
This week I have done a lot of THINKING about knitting and crochet. When I say that I kid not, It's on my mind all the time. I am dreaming about the un-spun Icelandic I ordered from Schoolhouse, and a little nervous about knitting with something un-spun. They only shiped it out today so who knows when it will get here. I am waiting for my dad to send me my IK magazine back and finish my cardi. It's to bad I don't have it now either because we have a cousin coming and I might have been able to knit a little bit if she was playing with Baby Girl.
I've also tried like 50 zillion times to start a crochet magic loop (Yes it's called magic loop and is nothing like knitting magic loop) sometimes also called "magic ring" but this nasty red heart (which is GREAT for Amigurumi btw) is not fun to "learn" on.
Today in a fit or rage, yes indeed rage, I had my husband finally just take the plunge and order us up the vacuum of all vacuums. We have gone through at-least 3 now, and the one we currently have is a dirt devil and a total piece of junk. The dogs dragged some leaves in, and when I tried to vacuum them it shredded them and spit them out the back. Not to mention despite cleaning out the container in it, every time we use it it has the most wacky/nasty smell and it's not burnt rubber (a more common crappy vacuum odor). I have no idea why but I got some sort of $40 discount when I checked out of Amazon.com which is really odd but I won't question it. It meant the slim Vacuum wound up costing pretty much the same amount as the older, regular model. Also Amazon's price is nearly $100 lower then targets! I hope it lives up to its reputation.
It's been a busy week and I have nothing to show for it, not any cute baby photos or knitted things. Maybe next week!
Oh how it snowed and snowed and snowed. I love the snow! I was so excited and I still am excited. I even ran around outside with Toby (AKA The Snow Dog) as he was made for such weather.
(Self Portrait!)
I've spent the better part of the last week in my free moments reading "Digressions" from Elizabeth Zimmermann. She is such a wonderful writer. I have enjoyed all her little stories, and I finally understand her Percentage System because I gave it a chance. I have three of her books but I mainly have been reading "Knitting Around" as well as "Knitters Almanac" which have such wonderful descriptions about how patterns came to be and the thought about them. I am also reading the introduction in the Amigurumi Super Happy Crochet Cute by E. Doherty. It was weird but in both the beggning of her book and in Zimermann's book they both spoke fairly negativly about crochet. EZ's book mentioned that crochet was what the "servants" did, is this a culture thing or something? I wonder why crochet was only something the servants did in some cultures, was it because they couldn't afford 2 needles?? (I jest)
Speaking of crochet, this blows my mind:
Coolest-Real-Like Amigurumi Ever! Greta Dog, see also Ravelry.
I finally remembered to ask my mother if I did leave my IK magazine there and indeed I DID! So happy! It had so many good patterns in it, and that issue sold out so I don't think it's possible to get another copy.
Oh yes, it snowed here today! Of course it wasn't for very long and certainly not enough to even lightly coat any surfaces but I sure get a thrill out of snow after living in Georgia for nearly 10 years now. I grew up in Virginia and used to build snow forts or ride a snow sled down hills. I do miss snow!
I've misplaced my IK magazine, the one that sold out with the Minimalist Cardigan in it. I'm pretty frustrated. The husbeast swears that he packed it in Virginia and it was in his suitecase but what happened to it after he opened his suitcase we aren't sure. While I was "searching" I found this UFO which I tried and realized happily, still will fit me and is very close to being done. It's funny how coming back to an old knit how what you thought looked awful, doesn't, and what seemed to daunting and horrible to attempt is really just a cinch after all. It just needs 1 more sleeve, if I can manage to make it match the other one so i don't have to rip it.
Sorry for the b00bage, can't help it as they have grown, hah! After leaving the bathroom (THE best place to take blog photos, who would have guessed) I realized I almost caused an accident.
I'm sure you can spot the trouble.
Here are another one of my promised FO baby shots, I knit this in the "6 month" size but it fits her already at 4 months (little chunker!). I love it, love it, love it. It's definitely my favorite thing that I knit on her so far. I might be tempted to buy another kit in a larger size one day. See that page for pattern and yarn info. it's the Tulip Cardi of Yarn Harlot fame. I just love it, and I am so impressed by the yarn. It's squishy and soft and knit up so pretty. I want more! I think it's expensive but it's just so nice I think it's worth every penny. The kit wasn't a bad price as they just give you enough yarn for it, not full skeins.
Okay so when is spring time anyway? Judging by the clothing in the stores you would think it was next week, I always thought february was a pretty cold month so I'm not getting my hopes, even though this year I am more anxious for spring then usual.
I wanted to share a few of my favorite things that are around the house these days;
Bamboo! I adore this design. I had first gotten some from pottery barn when we got married, but they have stopped making them and I just recently found a similar pattern at Crate & Barrel. We stocked up.
Two inch wide "fake" wood window treatments. We tested it out first on the cute little kitchen window and I love looking at them now, plus I can now hide from the neighbors.
Unicorn Tapestry Coasters from The Lourve in Paris. I never did get to go to the Muse de Cluny to see them in person, one day!
I am indeed still knitting away on the Minimalist Cardi and the second front is nearly finished. I also picked up another old UFO that had some sleeve issues, but now that I am a more seasoned knitter then when I originally worked on it I don't find it the least bit intimidating and I am working a few rows on that as well.
Yummy buttons from Joann's. I love Joann's for buttons. No one else has the selection.
Artfibers Roestta - A fun, crinkly tape yarn that I rather enjoyed knitting with, with deep and rich jewel tones that vary and look hand-dyed.
Pattern: Chromatic Cardigan by Kim Dulaney
The sleeves are way to long and I even shortened them, and because it's fair isle knit flat it required purling fair isle which I hated, it's also crooked when it's buttoned but I think I could have fudged that better in my finishing in picking up the exact same amount of stitches in the area prior to the fair isle at the top, I wasn't that meticulous though I did make sure to pick up the same amount of stitches on each band on a whole. I was a tad sloppy, finishing it in a hurry and it needs a good bath and blocking. I'll have an official FO shot once I put it on Baby Girl, not sure I'll ever bother blocking it.
My love for ravelry.com grows by the day with all these cool enhancements they add all the time. I need to keep better project notes for future reference, it really is your ultimate knitting tool. What size needles did you use, what was your gauge for the project with that yarn?
So lots going on here, Baby Girl got her 4 month shots yesterday. That was "fun" let me tell you. It's 70 degrees here in HotLanta, and our house is getting painted on the inside and out. It was a good week for painting so when we had to open windows it hasn't been too cold inside. We had our shutters painted, front door, master bedroom, master bath, and my husbands office. So far the guy isn't looking like a perfectionist and I'm going to have to put sticky notes up all over and call attention to his lack of detail (or a steady hand), w hat a pain!
That's after the first coat. Then I noticed after he painted the front door and shutters that the stupid guy at the paint store gave us "rock garden" green instead of "basil" which I had asked for, even circled it on the color card. Idiots!
Lets talk about happy stuff, like yarn;
MMMmm yummy, I picked this up when I went out for the #7 DPNs, isn't it loverly? I love the color (duh) and I thought oh how fun I'll knit a quick little pixie had for Baby Girl. Oh boy, it belongs in the loser pile! This proved I suck at improvising knitting patterns.
It's not "tall" enough and my decreases look nasty on size 15 needles. Ah well, at least the dogs liked playing with it. A total wast of $15, thats what I get for buying new yarn and not de-stashing. Good thing I only bought one skein. I also don't think it was worth $15. I've been really good about not spending money lately so I'll cut myself some slack on that one and not repeat the mistake.
I also tried another hand knit on BG to see if it fit her, it's still a little wide but the hat fit okay.
To close to home - What a sad and scary story, this poor women was murdered new years day or some time around then by some man she met on a hiking trail. I wonder what happened to her dog. They scary thing is the guy who did it had to have driven right down GA 400, she was killed up north in the mountains which you get to via 400, her body was found in Dawson which is were the big outlets are up here which is basically coming down 400, and her wallet was found in a trash bin at a convenience store in Fosyth, which is where I live. So the entire thing happened right up the road, and it's freaky to think the killer was driving down 400 and stopped in my town and throw away evidence. I feel so awful for that poor women, and her family. I hope they convict that guy and he never steps gets out of Jail.
Well things are a bit better in the knitting sphere, I've gotten one sleeve nearly done (except the pink ribbing) but I still need size 7 DPN's to finish the first one off, and I've picked up and started the second sleeve. The directions said to knit the sleeves 6" but I compared it to some baby cloths she fits in now and that would be way to long.
Someone fits into this adorable hand knit sweater! Look how perfect it fits her:
Thanks again Anne!
I'm annoyed about DPN's, I went to walmart, they had NO double pointed needles!! Then i went to Micheals, and they had size 8 and 10, ONLY! WTF! So then I went to the closes LYS and they didn't have 7's, sold out from the holidays. So today I convinced DH to run us to Roswell so I can grab some at the second closest LYS!
Woe is me! I have had it in my head for the past week now that i should take some knitting time to finish up Baby Girl's cute little San Fran cardi from Art Fibers. I've looked for a week in the house and just today finally e-mailed them to ask if I could order it again or something. It sucks so bad to loose a pattern! I've looked over and over again with no luck so far. It just fits her right now so I pretty much need to finish it in the next 7 days in order to let her wear it and get a cute photo.
I've barely been able to knit for the past month because of her bad sleeping habits (IE sleeping on me or with me at all times). So in the past two days I am only allowing her to take naps in her crib which has freed up a half an hour to an hour here and there. She still won't fall asleep on her own without nursing, that sucks the most. So I'm stuck to her pretty much all the time and as much as I love her I would like a little freedom. I was so happy when she was 2 months old and I had 2 free hours every evening to myself after she went to bed. Now she varies in when she will go to bed, 8pm, 9pm and sometimes as late as 11pm. I'm to tired after these struggles to do anything but sleep anyway. The night before last she woke up twice, I had to in turn nurse her to sleep 3 times before she was down for the night. Last night I refused to nurse her again, so I gave her a bottle and then I really can't remember how she went to sleep, I think the husbeast walked around with her until I was ready to try nursing again.
So I'm missing knitting, and I am a bit frustrated. She also wants to hold my hand when she nurses now so can't surf or e-mail. This soon shall pass I know but it's still frustrating! I hope I can finish the cute little cardi. I could brave it myself but I really want it to be right and I lack the time to think about button hole placement and all the planning etc.
She's dang cute though, makes up for the not so fun stuff!
Update: Turns out the pattern is available online, via a returned e-mail from the shop. Sad thing is I have no idea what needle size I used and I didn't record it on my blog or on ravelry, BAD KNITTER! I think it was a 7 and 9... I think!