'take me home' takes a licking and keeps on.

remember this one? i made this to bring bea home from the hospital, it was my second project ever; she still wears it. the bigger she gets, the more like a bolero style shrug, or vice versa, it becomes. or, is it called a surplice. i need to track down a fashion terms glossary.

that is old news. there are plenty of new projects on the horizon, thanks in large part to the inspiration and enabling provided by caroline, my not secret anymore pal. from the beautiful rowan babies book she sent along, i have elected to make cindy. i have the yarn already and it will serve to reduce the stash and clothe the tot. i plan to make it in the largest size my supply allows which is the 1-2. that way, i will have plenty of time to complete it and we should get prolonged use out of it.

also up is amy king's boogie from the knitty archives. the alpaca silk that sp, cg, gifted me is destined for this project. it is so soft and so cuddly, i just covet it for myself. so, a cozy vest it is. no sleeves to bog me down knitting or wearing-wise. i am so looking forward to this one. it is likely that i will take you up on the offer of a supplemental trip to your lys for a couple more balls, cg.

desmond is haunting me at my chair as i write. he is systematically stuffing hotwheels down the back of my overalls. when i stand up there will be a puddle of cars at my feet having just tickled my backside all the way down. how are you getting your thrills today?

happily ever 'till the next project

thanks spiii!

forget secret pal, what i have here is a regular fairy godmother!

picture the babies driving me, cinderella, crazier than usual today. i just was not left alone to accomplish the one thing i set for myself, clean their room. aidan was all over me 'helping', and desmond was wandering about like a clingy little puppy. i finally bellowed some words, banished them from the room and tried to go about my business. then hubby shouts up the stairs that i have a mail package and tosses it up. so i grab it and shut the door behind me and my vacuum cleaner. the vacuum and i hunker down behind the closed door and steal a peak inside. such pleasure. 4 balls of debbie bliss alpaca silk and a rowan babies book! mmm, i could feel the breath of the magic wand pass over my head and glittery molecules falling all around, lifting my spirits for the rest of the day. of course it remains for me to transform the stuff into the enchanted garment myself, that's the fun part. thanks fairy godmother, it is all so lovely.

the room is clean enough. i plan to knit on the pure and simple baby pullover from weekend knitting, that is for jacksonorlilly.... and maybe swatch some beautiful delft blue, terribly soft alpaca silk. how will you spend the rest of your day?

dans la nuit, les chats sont gris...

but not this one!



curious cat

hungry cat

sleepy cat

i know, camera pics, not the greatest. hubby might be tempted by a real digital for christmas, who knows?

anyway, i had to get these up to honor my secret pal iii. she has been looking out for me lately, what with help finding yarn, etc. so, it's high time she see her thoughtful gifts enjoyed and appreciated. i adapted the baby hat pattern from the puppy ensemble in monkey knits. i added a berocco plush (leftover from fluffy cuff) trim all the way around and some pompon ties. the yarn sp sent is called sabrina, collezione s charles filati d'italia. the color she sent was number 27; black, gold, purple. as you can see, or maybe you can't because of the sub par pics, it turned out an adorable little number for beatrice to wear as long as the weather stays cold, starting with halloween. actually, it wasn't cold on halloween, but she wore it anyway as a costume, imagine little eyeliner whiskers drawn on her cheeks.

looking forward to snb tomorrow. in spite of the close proximity of the date to the holiday, some say they are still showing up, myself included. new members are joining all the time now, must be the season. it's fun to go and see the group morph and change and stay the same.

jacksonorlilly knits on, just about done with the sleeves.
how is your day going?

please, no comments about my french spelling or grammar; i already know it is lamentable.

hurry up and knit

i'm working on jacksonorlilly's tiny little sweater. so tiny, yet i don't seem to be making much headway. everything else is on hold until i wrap this one up.

i do have a couple of other gift items i would still like to try and make; mom's mitts, another hat for another niece. that means in the mood is on hold until after the holidays. just as well, it will take a little while to get the yarn. i have several leads to follow toward the procurement of said yarn, thanks rebecca and secret pal for your support in this quest.

also, i measured hubby's feet for wendy's toe up sock pattern (spiii, i dipped into the pattern a day calendar for this one - couldn't wait). he seemed to like that i was measuring his feet. there were no comments made about knitting something he could easily buy, there were no remarks about how 'weird' it is that i am 'so into' knitting. the fly fishing nut cheerfully stuck his feet out and prattled on about the one foot bigger than the other phenomenon. it almost makes me want to get cracking on that project... in time for the holidays? this is the first and last year i plan to make gifts. it's too deadline-y for me. i don't want my knitting to become part of a to do list. i want to keep it on the 'when everything else is done or can wait' list.

overheard being called down the stairs by the preschooler, "mom, my poop is too big for the toilet..."
is your day this glamorous?

moody

so i decided to splurge on the lara for in the mood. i like knitting on it so much, that i've rationalized my way into spending the bucks. the search is on. here are the online sources i've managed to scrounge up: jimmy bean's wool, some german place, some other place with a phone number, also one that sells by the bag. problem, low quantities. i like the red best, only 4 balls to be had? huge bummer. this whole quest has really made me feel like, at the very least, i need to get that yarn in my stash as it seems so hard to come by. we'll see how this all shakes out.

stitch and bitch was nice last night. there were four new people, it could have been a completely new/different group, then a few more regulars showed up. i worked on jacksonorlilly's sweater, got the sleeves started. i'm through the increases for both sleeves. i need a system for keeping track of wether or not i've worked both sleeves on the needle. i have to stop and let the strings hang and puzzle it out sometimes.

i find myself eyeing the highland wool on elann for an alternate project to in the mood. but i so want to make in the mood. crud.

i can't get no satisfaction.
how is your day going.

'nonplussed'

.... by the very project that i keep 'adding' to.
i'm knitting away on in the mood in spite of myself. i got a nice yarn from elann that achieves the correct guage... But, the shag part of it is just too short to achieve the desired degree of furriness. i've told myself that i will not continue this project until i get a better suited yarn. it is so easy and relaxing though, i keep picking it up anyway. i think i better return the remaining balls to elann pronto so i can truly stop myself from knitting on this sweater.

the back of jacksonorlilly's sweater is done, i have to get cracking on the rest. that baby should be here any day. i knit the sweater in the smallest size, so i better send it fast! sleeves next, i think.

um... oh yeah, books. knit wit came, the projects are the same as in knitty and the ones that aren't don't interest me. it's going back. i have enough books with light projects now without keeping this one.
stitch and bitch nation is great. it has our snb picture in it. we happen to be on the first page of groups featured. i was pregnant with beatrice and knitting on desmond's sweater in the pic. i really like it. there are many 'light' projects i would like to try. overall, i think a better match for me than knit wit.

the kids are eating off trays.
i have pretty new chairs for the kitchen from ikea, but no tabe at all!
how is your day going?

post with no title

duo 

aline 

these are the two pics that i had planned on sending along to knitty to add to the gallery of projects finished by their readers. what i am noticing is that there is no longer a gallery link on the current issue. if you search the site, you can find it, but it's via an older issue and doesn't seem to be updated. i'm a little disappointed as i hoped to peruse my own work parmis the others'. oh well, at least i can see it here. duo is the sweater and aline is the bag. both over with for a while now.

in current knitting news. i have started yet another knitty project, from an older issue, that is in the mood. the color i ended up with is almond, it looks more like champagne to me. it turned out to be a little less neutral than i had hoped. i guess it is a good idea to order a sample from online stores, elann in this case, before buying. really though, who has the patience for that?
i have the baby sweater for jacksonorlily underway, with most of the back completed. i'm still in the swatching phase for socks and mitts for mom.

dinner is in the crockpot but the recycling is still several yards away from the curb. how is your day going?

people we love

fuzzy fluffy cuff

not a good quality picture, but it manages to convey the joy that is giving and recieving needlecrafts. kate taught herself to crochet from library books when she was twelve so that she could make a baby blanket for my aidan. she took that upon herself because their nana passed away while i was pregnant and she worried that the baby would not get his due blanket. as it turns out, desmond is the one who bonded with the blanket. now, at 16, kate was the kind soul who traveled out west with myself and the boys this summer as mother's helper. she is deserving of a lot more than fluffy cuff mittens. yay for dependable and upstanding young people making our families strong!


des with his blankie

got windex?

halloween hooligans

i wonder if they sell as much windex after halloween as they sold candy before?

honorable mention in the blog for craftiness and hostessing goes to our good friend and neighbor lesley for throwing an intimate and fun halloween celebration with the hoffmans on the guest list. she makes the best guts (mac and cheese) i have ever tasted! also on the menu were impaled chicken and shrimp, peas with eyeballs, broken fingers and blood to drink.

the fireman on the left, not to be confused with the fire truck on the right, was her little guy sporting 1/2 of the costume she made with her own two hands. why 1/2 do you ask? because we ran out of bribes to get him to wear the rest of it. settle for good enough and enjoy the tricks and treats is what we did. i can't wait to borrow that particularly cute getup for my smaller one at a halloween in the future, -dibs, les!

go vote!

lookee here... a picture!
brian at verizon tech support finally fixed my phone for me. brian must have a healthy dose of common sense compared to his colleagues because i spoke with no less than six other people who were not able to fix the problem. brian had me ship shape in two minutes or less.

aidan's devil hat 

the pic is obviously of aidan's devil hat. i'll let a few others trickle into the blog. many that i have already posted about. because, even though those projects are behind me, i'm still proud, and they still deserve an audience. i especially want to show my secret pal the super cool kitty hat i made for beatrice. i want to make sure i get a nice picture so she can appreciate the coolness of the project she inspired.

i am between projects. at a loss for what will be knit next. i have swatched ,unsuccessfully so far, for mom's mitts and socks. still trying to zero in on yarn and pattern choice for mitts and needle size and type for sox. addis are too slippery for the sock yarn in my hands. stitch and bitch is tomorrow... what will i bring?

the fluffy cuff mittens were very well recieved by my niece. she even noticed that there were no holes around the thumbs, good girl. the thumbs were indeed quite challenging for me. the second go was far more successful than the first. i still ended up strategically weaving ends and plugging holes on both. she dug that.
i am waiting with baited breath to see what secret pal has to say about her october loot.

bertie bott's scented candle suggestion: 'diaper change'
i am currently covering up that scent with yankee's 'autumn lodge', a decided improvement. this was purchased via the boy's school fundraiser. bitchin' stitchers be there tomorrow for your special delivery. claudia, jodi and chris: thanks for your support!

i changed all the diapers and the stench is gone.
how is your day going.