Pixie Purls

So, I knit like half a sweater, then frogged it.

It's a bottom up raglan, which I have to say is not really a way I like to go, top down to me seems way more fun, and way more accommodating to variegated yarn. It's way harder to plan out what color to end on, then it is what color to begin with. I also couldn't really try it on as easily. So to the frog pond it goes. It's this cool Merino/Angora blend of yarn that I got in Maryland. It's great and knits up fast. I need a pattern though. It's 3 stitches and inch and I havn't really been able to find an easy top down raglan pattern in that gauge, and all the knitting pattern books I have seem to have tiny necks on their sweaters and I'm not in the mood to try and rip again if my own idea didn't work out. I want mindless knitting.

Speaking of wanting mindless knitting and NOT getting it. I cast on for a Baby Suprise Jacket with some Knitpicks cotton, I re-started like 5 times but I think I have it now. I got the Schoolhouse Press DVD on a whim (heard all the raves about them) as it was only $15 on amazon.com (I looked under "Userd & New" to find a copy) and it was very much worth it, now I want all of the DVD's they sell. I am very impressed and delighted by Meg Swansen, the DVD is way more then just how to knit that pattern. It's FULL of fantastic knitting tips and she totally is in the school of "there is no WRONG way to knit" and I love that mindset. So I was confused with how on the DVD she has you place a marker IN the stitch not on the needle, that just didn't work for me. I suck at "reading" garter stitch. I can read stockinette like a champ, but garter is mysterious to me (probably because I rarely knit in garter).

Yesterday Meeko was in town and we went to Knitch (who now carries my pattern if you want to go pick one up!) and she left with loads of Baby Alpaca to make her hubby a sweater, and I left with some Rowan Scottish Tweed which I adore (for some sort of sweater for BG) and some SeaSilk. Sorry, too lazy to take pics! Today we went to the Georgia Aquarium which is new, and big, and fantastic. I do have photos of that.

BG went batty over the panguins, it was so cute. They "played" with her and she would giggle and touch the glass and squeal and they would swim up to her behind the glass and sort of play chase with her.

It was fantastic, if you are ever in Atlanta you don't want to miss it!

Posted by pixie at 10:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Mom becomes a hero feeding babies in the Earthquake stricken region of China. She fed up to 9, by breast-feeding them. I had to post it, amazing story.

Posted by pixie at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It's our last evening at the beach, we have the doors open and the wonderful warm yet slightly cool air smells all salty. The husbeast is watching Indian Jones on TV and the baby is asleep so I'm relaxing and have a moment to blog.

It rained and was over cast for the first 3 days we got here, the first evening and then thursday and friday. I worked like a mad women on my Bolero Jacket. I kept thinking, how cozy it would be to wear given the weather. It would indeed have been perfect. I greatly underestimated how long the ribbing on the collar would take and it took 3 evenings and some daytime knitting as well. I even seamed for an hour in the car while BG slept on the way here. Alas I finished seaming late at night on Friday, which of course I knew Saturday was going to be all sunny and beautiful without any need for a cashmere/merino jacket. That's how things always work out right?

Saturday (today) has been wonderful. We went to the beach in the morning (BG even slept there, score!) and then later found a great sushi restaurant.

It's been fantastic to travel with BG, she's just great. She has had some issues going to bed at night but I think that's related to a "growth spurt" as she approaches 9 months which is a time of lots of growing.

So back to that bolero, of course I had to take photos at the beach, I would have loved photos on the actual beach itself but with how warm it was we just opted for in front of a beach-y looking tree!

Pattern: Bolero Jacket by Debbie Bliss (Smallest Size)
Needles: US 10/10½ Denise Interchangeable
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky

I knit the smallest size, it’s a tad big but super comfortable and the yarn is really nice and sooo much like clouds on your skin. It definitely needs a clasp on the front, the model some how looks great without it being pulled closed but I tried and it just was too bulky and frumpy looking unless clasped to be more form fitting. Now I have to find something to keep it closed with!

Posted by pixie at 10:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Wow, the last 3 weeks have been insane as BG transitioned from 7 to 8 months. She will turn the pages on a book when I read to her at night, she can crawl and crawls with gusto. She pulls herself to a stand constantly and this very evening let go of what she was holding onto and was in a true un-assisted stand for several seconds. She let go on her own and stood there. I was shocked. I thought it would be crawling for a month or so and THEN standing and THEN walking. I think it's going to come faster then i expected. Some kids don't walk until a year old and I haven't been in a hurry anyway.

We also tried feeding her some puffs the other day and not only can she pick them up but she put several in her mouth and ate them. I also didn't expect her to catch onto that the second time I gave them to her. I thought she would play with them for a few weeks before "getting it".

She has a bad cold right now, but it seems to be at the tale end of it (of course she gets better right after I take her to the doctor!). It's been the first time she has had a runny nose or cough, so that has been an adventure.

She went through a period of time around 6-7 months where I didn't have her use her little potty often enough and she seemed to forget, but after about 3 days of putting her on it ALL DAY and getting nothing, suddenly she started going again. I am hoping if I am GOOD and keep up with it that this will make potty training easier when the times comes.

It's been a crazy month, and I'm sure going from 8 to 9 months will be just as crazy if not even more. I am going to attempt to start going to the YMCA regularly and start doing Yoga and putting BG in the childcare they have there. I've been saying that for months, it is I think the time to really do it. It will be good for her and good for me

Oh I forgot to mention, she has a total of 4 teeth coming in, 2 bottom center and then two up top on either side. I'm amazed she's not more cranky really!

Posted by pixie at 09:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

There are some photos on the camera but I don't think they are worth even uploading to the computer. I'm too lazy to do it anyway. I finished one entire sleeve in 2 nights on the Bolero. W00t! I am now nearly halfway done with sleeve #2 and then only have a smaller front side left after that. Then I can seam and the ribbing I imagine will take a little work as it's a large part of the design.

I'm *not* knitting on a deadline however it would be nice to wear to the beach, tonight I have the back and one front blocking.

Today is (was) mothers day. BG has a bad cold (no fever) and is very whiney and miserable. The husbeast had her laughing up a storm over his feet earlier today though. She's 8 months old now and I need to get some cute photos of her and do an "8 month" blog entry. I've been spending a lot of my free time knitting, and my neck pain has been really bad lately which totally kills my energy. When we are at the beach I am going to find a Chiropractor and get an adjustment and maybe even a message. This I know will make me feel LOADS better. I've been saying for the past 8 months that I need to do both of those things.

I also looked at the schedule at the YMCA and now that BG can crawl and entertain herself much better I'm going to attempt to take some Yoga classes. It's all included in the membership I already have plus they will watch BG while I am in the classes. I'm not sure how I feel about leaving her with someone, the two of us are so attached at the hip and very rarely away from each other for very long at all, let alone with someone I don't really know. It's going to be an interesting experience. I wish i could see what happened when I won't be with her, will she enjoy herself? Will she have fun? I know she loves new things so I have a feeling she will be fairly entertained by the strange toys and people. She is crawling all over the place now, but I guess I should save that for my "8 months" post which may be a little late at this point.

If you are a mother, I do hope you had a lovely day!

Posted by pixie at 11:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I had no idea's for a title, so that will have to do. So I was playing with my pretty new yarn from Maryland and I wanted to knit a Tom-Ten (Elizabeth Zimermann pattern) but I couldn't find my 10.5 Denise needles. I recalled they have been in a box in my dinning room for nearly a year. I started the Bolero Jacket (Debbie Bliss Simply Soft Book). I thought hrmm, might be good to use that yarn and I see no reason to rip what I started.

So far I have finished, the back, one front and part of a sleeve. (I had only started the back back a long while ago so that's great progress for a few nights) I am going to finish at-least one sleeve before hitting the other front, hopefully to make it easier to get through two sleeves.

I'm using the called for cashmerino chunky so it's a fast knit, and so far the sleeve width looks very promising (not too big/baggy). I did some ktfbl when I worked on one front and then wound up using a more "invisible" increase. I could have gone back and ripped the more obvious ones but figured, what the hell. I left them. I'm getting far more laid back about my knitting, it's a good thing. I might finish more stuff this way, hah. I have so many unfinished sweaters, think about if I actually finished Sahara, I could even wear it this summer. That would involve having to find the UFO and the yarn.. which I believe are not together. Slacker knitter!!!! :)

We are headed to the beach very soon and I am totally freaking out about it, I think I mentioned it but now it is mere DAYS away. I can NOT wait. Maybe I'll finish the bolero to wear on the beach at night, with my big fluffy gap skirt (just like the skirts in the pattern book!). Then I would have to pack my blocking board, not sure how the husbeast would feel about that!

Posted by pixie at 11:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

As I have been using so much sock yarn for Country Kiddie lately I stashed up a bit on that. I really wanted to make one from STR and I figured I needed to have the experience of waiting in line for sock yarn, everyone should. I waited 45 minutes. It was 11am when I got in line and it was already pretty picked over. I couldn't find a pink/green color-way like I wanted to but I got some other pretty stuff.

The green's look a bit gray in this photo for some reason. This yarn below knits up SO pretty! It is an angora/wool blend and is hand dyed and then hand plied (the women who does it must enjoy plying, A LOT because they had A LOT of yarn!). The booth was in the main building and had a ton of sample sweaters in the same pattern but in different colors. I can't wait to knit this up, it's really pretty and of course my favorite colors.

Now for my two favorite purchases, one is a hank of 100% cashmere. 300 yards. I am thinking about making cashmere socks. How nice would that be to wear in the winter around the house? Or even with burks on a cool spring day.

Second, something I have wanted for years. A golding spindle. This one is 1.9 ounces and perfect for long fibers like BFL and Shetland. The women working the Golding booth was so nice and helpful. I was torn between this and a butterfly 1.2 ounce one which would have been nice for merino but the truth is I spin most with Shetland, BFL and those types of wool. She had me try it out and wow it spins like a dream. I went outside today and spun up some but then it got too windy and I had to stop. I LURV it.

I did not buy any roving (oh I wanted too) but I have loads in my closet and I really think I buy to much stuff so I tried to keep my purchases small. I actually only went in one barn (to get the STR) and never walked through the rest of it, and went through the main big indoor building. I missed SO MUCH but I knew I would want to buy to much and it was best not to even look. I also got some really funny stitch markers but I still need to photograph them. I also met someone while shopping and I will tell you all about that later too!

Posted by pixie at 07:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I was ready, I had my boots and my hat. I did not get sunburn, in fact neither did BG or the husbeast. I made sure we all used sun-block. Go responsible adult person! (oh, that was me... hah).

We brought the rough and rugged stroller, super easy for navigating through sheep poo and mud.

However, I never saw any sheep poo, or mud. Oh but there was some super cute, ewok-ish alpaca's!

We spyed on some adorable baby Finn, on the way to the Ravelry meetup.

(Have no fear, those sheep are in the shade with plenty of ventilation)

There was a LOT of people at that meetup.

I was a bit overwelmed and left, but not before saying hit to Jess and Casey.

We ended the day by relaxing under a tree, surrounded by tulips.

Later that evening I ventures out by myself to the Ravelry party and first thing saw some familiar faces.

(AM & Carrieoke! Georgia girls rule)

I saw the Rav crew together, giving out a mother-load of prizes.

Then I ended the day by saying hi to bob.

Stash enhancements up next... I have to go collapse on the bed first though...

Posted by pixie at 11:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

(The color looks the best in this shot)

Well, maybe I'll like it later. It's huge. I took some semi-okay photos, I wanted to wear it to MS&W but I think I'll just leave it at home and have more room in the suitcase for yarn. I am going to send it to my Irish Aunt Pat, I know she always wanted me to knit her something and I'm sure she won't mind it being a bit roomy.

I also messed up seaming one shoulder, it's more puckery then the other because I guess I got too excited. It's funny, when I knit socks the first sock is perfect, the second sock will have errors. When I seam one side will be great and the other will be messed up. I really didn't rush it, I did one half each night and it took around about the same amount of time. Wish I liked it more, but it's just too big and makes me feel like a square. The husbeast said my workman ship and the yarn are fantastic, but he feels fashion-wise it is "Startrek Granny".

Pattern: Minimalist Cardigan
Yarn: Artfibers Satori (San Francisco)

Gotta love the lopsided sleeve length in the last photo, I think that was a blocking problem. I suck!

Posted by pixie at 10:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)