meri-no stashmas

this christmas was the year of yarn. among the gifties were ecco zitron, a fine guage superwash merino in a dusky-roseish color (#121, 'altrosa') from mom. i think destined for lace socks, my first, i'd like to scope out a toe up pattern. mom also sent a learn to knit kit which is way cool but i already know how to knit; so, i think i'll find out where she got that and hope to exchange it for something a little more challenging. hubby displayed a distinct learning curve in the progression of yarns he presented to me at christmas; he came through with some red heart in a couple of shades of blue, thinking 'something for the boys', a bunch of lion brand homespun in the color regency (320), and some classic elite paintbox merino in cobalt violet (6830); i've reconnoitered a pattern, called tigger, from knitty for this. it will be a little jacket for beatrice.

just over at amy king's site and she finished a whole vest in the time it took me to knit half, rip and then knit 3/4 of the back. her vest looks awesome, it's fresh inspiration. stop swatching the new stuff and finish your vest, corine. focus. i'm excited about trying my first cabling. new year, new skills.

recycle, reuse, repurpose

my girlfriend returned from an island vacation this week. she brought back some nifty little market toys, a crab and a turtle, for the boys. they are very excited by the motion of these handmade gismos. the toys aren't exactly durability tested, however, and they need tweaking and repair before the recipients are tired of their novelty. pictured is the simple mechanism that is the 'go' of these little sea characters.



how is this for resourcefulness? see the 'rubber band' there? well, it is a rubber something, but... not exactly a band.... eww! i need to wash my hands now! (please, please, not reused) v. is appologizing for her gift selection, dave and i are laughing over the sink and the handsoap. we're trying to brush off aidan's request to bring his toy to bed with him.



now, we're under instruction not to share this 'secret' with our friends, the parents of the third spoiled child... who knows if they'll take it cheerfully... the scandal! these make nice wall ornaments, don't you think? thanks v!


umm. knitting. boogie vest 10 inces of the back -not-. ripped. too big. start over. a couple of inches into the rib now. the yarn is so fabulous, i intend for this to be a knit i will ablolutely wear and use! a favorite sweater, even! the good news is that i won't need as much yarn with the smaller size. i think i'll start the socks for dah too so i have a couple of things going at once as a break from each other.

wish knits list

another little object finito.
aidan has had his curly-toed elf slippers from weekend knitting for a few weeks now. i hesitated about adding the fur because i thought it might be too fussy for a big boy like him. but, one day he asked me when i would get the fur on. so, this weekend i knit up the trim.
as i progressed he said wistfully, 'now they are going to be real.'
'real what?' i asked, 'they were real slippers before'.
'now they are going to be real christmas shoes... my elf booties...'

looking ahead:
clapotis -need yarn, exploring options
boogie vest -need a couple balls more of yarn, swatching, alternate guage calculations complete.
wendy's toe up socks -swatching
in the mood -ggh lara on shopping list
cindy -have yarn

mulling over the possibility of:
tricot and/or mariah

naked newborn

my brother's wife gave birth to a baby girl very early wednesday morning. the little girl's name is amelia lilly. i can't wait to meet her. unfortunately, it will be a few months before we trek west again with all the bambinos in tow.



and where might you ask is her sweater? it's blocking on my ironing board a whole continent away. never fear though, the girlie only weighed in at 5 lbs. so, i think she'll still get wear out of the togs i send her. lest ye think the mommy had an (relatively) easy time helping such a little peanut out into the world, the girlie decided she wanted her fist to come out along with her head. this was a home birth assisted by a team of three midwives who apparently had their knitting with them for the boring parts.

i am grateful and proud of all those present for their various roles in bringing out the latest and the smallest to join our family. it's fun to be populating this continent. mom and dad came over from france (and they didn't just cross the pond, they went to oregon) as young parents and so all our extended folk were very far away and it was always 'just us'. i'm happy for our kids to have cousins and be cousins, though i regret not being geographically closer to my side. aidan so often says we should get on a plane 'today' and go see meme. would, that it were that simple.

my brother managed to become a new daddy just under the age of 40. i always thought it was a waste that he wasn't someone's parent. no more. when i called to check on them he was on his way to the walmart to buy photo paper, proud papa. i think of him snapping away in the direction of his new daughter and know what a world of difference it is to have a newborn vs. the 7 month old that beatrice is already! yet, bea and amelia will grow up being the same age. and so my brother and i bond a little more despite the distance. we both have new daughters. that is so cool.

back to the knitting part.. there is a silver lining to the baby coming before my having actually finished the sweater. i had bought buttons for the project. generic, non gender specific buttons. o.k. buttons. the pattern in fact asked for 4 buttons, but i knit the thing, i knew i had only put 3 holes in the shoulder, so i bought the single card of 3. lo' and behold, as i knit the neckband on, the pattern directs one more hole -in the neckband, so sneaky! now i need more buttons.



besides the buttons, i need to get a yankee swap gift for snb next week. thursday a.m., i had a few moments to myself. i decided to check out the new sit 'n knit yarn store in west hartford center. charming place. not only did i find two small but lovely items for the swap, they also had the very sweet buttons you see pictured. i think they are just the thing for that sweater; i'm tickled -you know what. what's your color right now?

ho, ho, ho, completed christmas gifts galore

in order of completion.
beginning with the kittyville hat knit from banff somethin' or other. modeled by des who's noggin i hope is smaller than the recipient's. niece 1 down, her sister to go. niece 2 was supposed to get a similar hat in debbie bliss chunky merino. but after knitting both the first kittyville, and lil' devil, i started getting bored of the same project all the time.


next are mom's mitt's knit from marnie maclean's delightful pattern, scroll down to link. wouldn't you know i finally get the digital camera thing going and now i have to contend with dark winter days to take pictures in. i think you can just make out the ribbing and thumb hole on the bottom mitt and the lovely diamond pattern on the top one. forget about color. fun knit all around.


back to niece 2. this is actually a large swatch turned scarf. this was the yarn, online linie, i purchased from elann to knit 'in the mood'. after the first ball, i decided the furriness of the yarn was not as shaggy as i wanted so i sent the rest back. i decided to bind off and add ponpoms for a kicky little scarf. i mixed the linie and some left over berocco plush for the ponpoms. i hope she likes. i hope one sister is not jealous of the other. at least these are the west coast nieces, so if battles ensue, i'll be away from the fray.

yay. now i get to tie ribbons and bows. what elf tune will you be whistling today?

next time, some pics

mom's mitts are blocking away. i didn't end up adding thumbs after all. it might interest my fellow snbers to know that i ended up ripping back the first finished mitt a couple rows to fix the lace, and i dropped the stitch in the rib a couple of inches to catch the hinky stitch that lurked there. as they are for my mom, they had to be 'just so'. they were fun to knit and i see myself making these again for friends. i may try a mitt pattern (she has a couple of choices) by midnight knitter next though, for a little change and to see which i would like for myself.

the baby sweater sits unseamed. but, i picked up the piece of 'in the mood' that i had started, bound it off and am working on pompons to attach to the ends to make a scarf for one of my nieces. i had planned on making each of them kittyville hats; but, i never got around to starting the second one. so hat for one, scarf for the other is how that cookie is gonna crumble.

i'm excited about doing some knitting without that deadline-y feeling soon. i think i'll have socks and the boogie vest going at once.

i was inspired by one of my not secret anymore pals' blog today to spend the morning rearranging the playroom for the little christmas tree. i wanted to place it so we could still see it from the living area as that is the only tree we have. small place, small decor. the boys were beside themselves just with the new floor plan, i think i'll wait till naptime to actually delve into the ornaments. i always scale back decorating, but aidan always has extra suggestions and plans so we end up quite festive in spite of me.

the cold still hangs on. aidan seems to be well for the most part. des still takes long periods of rest and occasionally spikes a low grade fever in the evening. bea and i are still coughing and hoarse. with a little dose of stuff here and there, everyone manages to sleep well and eat well though, so no worries, just need a little more patience. be well today.

keep on keepin' on

all the knitting on jacksonorlilly's sweater is finished. it remains for me to seam it and attach the buttons.

i have most of one of mom's mitts completed. a lot of ripping on that one as i am attempting it with a very distracting head cold. i'm knitting it in the round rather than flat as Marnie's pattern is written (Marnie is super cool, go check her out). i'm considering adding thumbs.

why is my blog skin all hinky? for the past couple of days my sidebar has been crowding the main body. for that matter, why doesn't the clock that stamps my blog posts with the time ever tell it correctly? these demand my attention but i shall not give it at this time.

my cold is lousy. can i take sudafed while nursing? must call mine or the kids' doctor to find out. what nuisance will you prevail over today?

addendum: snb turned me on to photobucket, but i need better control over the size... must pick brains later tonite.

do as i say and,

just click on this.