School!

Our first day of school was yesterday. My kids got a jump start on me and started before I was finished with my coffee. The picture below shows my new "office" and the kids hard at work. They like that little table. This used to be a dining room, but you can see that I've taken over. hahaha! I have my desk where I knit and write patterns. You can see my sewing corner with my swift hanging on the wall. Just last night, I added my weaving loom right next to my desk.


The ironing board is only out when I'm sewing. Right now, I'm sewing tote bags to include in our shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child. I wanted to sew bags last year, but time got away from me and I ended up buying cheap ones. I wasn't too thrilled with the quality of those and was determined to sew my own this year. The picture shows what I've accomplished in about 1.5 days of sewing. I've made 10 tote bags!

These are just basic tote bags. I didn't interface them or add any pockets because I didn't want the extra bulk taking up shoe box space. I did line all of them. They seem pretty sturdy. I put four of my knitting stitch dictionaries into one bag and it held up just fine. I'll probably make a few more bags and pick out the best ones for the shoe boxes.

I'm still knitting on my Gnarled Oakwoods shawl for Camp Loopy. What didn't help is that I got my first shipment of Knitspot's fall in full color club! I won't post a picture on the blog yet. The pattern is a scarf or stole. I really want to cast-on, but I should probably finish this stole first.

I do have a pair of socks in progress. They're self striping socks for my son. I'm avoiding designing anything new until I get some of my backlogged patterns written and test knitted.

I need a pool

A testing pool, that is. But that's jumping ahead. Let's catch up from where we left off in June (!). Yikes, I can't believe it's been that long.

This is Whirligig Cables. It's a fun cable pattern that reminds me of whirligigs or candy. This was knit with Opal 4-ply solid yarn. I used a 2.0mm needle for the foot and a 2.25mm needle for the leg. This pattern does draw in a lot from the wide cables. It was done in my usual magic loop, toe-up, 2 at a time, and short row heel fashion.

This one is Tangled Woods. I seem to be fond of the cable and lace combination lately. The cables and lace seem to balance each other out with the drawing in and opening up. The yarn is Knit Picks Essential/Stroll Kettle Dyed yarn in Timber. Very pretty color, but a bit hard to photograph. This pattern was also knit on a magic loop, 2 at a time, and toe-up.

This one is unnamed and the pattern needs to be written and tested. But before that, I need to figure out how to resize it. I don't like releasing patterns with one size only. I really like this sock. The pattern was easy to memorize, but wasn't at all boring. The yarn is Knit Picks Essential/Stroll Kettle Dyed yarn in Spruce. I used a 2m needle. It's also done in my typical magic loop, toe-up, short row heel formula.

This is another unnamed pattern that I need to write up and have tested. I think the pattern works with the variegated yarn. The yarn is Enchanted Knoll Farm in Wood Elves.

And this is why I need a pool. I think that I need to start a testing pool because it will drive me batty if I put a call out for testers separately for each pattern. Beyond these two, I still have about 8(!) other patterns that need to be written and tested. Wow, have I let things stack up. sigh... The pattern writing part slows me down. I would so much rather be knitting a new design than glued to my computer making charts or writing. I'm not sure how I'll do a testing pool. I've done two separate ones on yahoo groups, but those were secret. All of my socks that I've mentioned are already on my ravelry projects page. No secrecy there, so I may just start a ravelry group. Decisions...

Other than knitting, we had a good camping trip. I took a shawl and two lace scarves with me and finished them. They're still not blocked. sigh again... My parents came to visit for a week and I thought that I would get a lot of knitting done, but I didn't.

I did get a lot of reading done. I bought a set of Harry Potter books and read 1-7 in two weeks. Great books!! I'm so glad that I didn't read them when they first came out. I find it very hard to be patient while waiting for the next book in a series to come out. I'm still waiting for the next book in Gabaldon's Outlander series. I think that's supposed to come out this fall? I might have to re-read through that series.

I also need to start planning the next school year. My son is already asking to start now. That's a great sign that he's excited about it and still likes it! My daughter apparently has my reading obsession gene. She's been reading a lot this summer and is recently stuck with Nancy Drew books.

Project shuffle

I've recently gone through a project purge. I think it was brought on by the evil mohair boucle yarn. The boucle project has been frogged (yes, I managed that) and the yarn has been hidden away in the closet. The wrap was turning out too big. It would have been far too big, even with fulling/felting(?). The yarn was driving me nuts, so it was time for it to go away. Surprisingly, the frogging wasn't that bad.

I also frogged an old mystery shawl that I was working on with some teeny-tiny Colourmart cashmere/silk yarn. I loved the pattern and loved the yarn, but didn't really like them together. It was time to frog and save the pretty yarn for something else. I've also decided that I'm going to take a break from mystery things. I have too many books and patterns floating around here. I don't need to add any more for a while.

Sooo...what was I working on all this time? One thing that I was working on was Poinsettia by Sunflower Designs. It's finished too! Now, it's just waiting for pictures. I'll post the details of that scarf when I get them taken. Let me just say that it's a trial of patience and sheer determination to place almost 5000 beads on a scarf----one-at-a-time---with a tiny crochet hook. It's a wonder that I'm still sane. Or am I?

Most importantly, I'm working on pattern writing again. I'm test knitting my own pattern. How sad is it that it's been so long since I've knit the socks that I need to actually read my own pattern? I guess that is one way to test knit it. I'm still thinking about sending it out to additional test knitters too. Which sock pattern am I working on right now? That will have to be a surprise. ;-)

Around the house, we had a huge accomplishment for D. He finished all 100 of his reading lessons!!! It's so cute listening to him read through out the day. I also enjoy hearing him try to sound out random things around the house--words on the stove, words on his toy boxes, and words on just about anything he can see.

Ah, much better...

Things started looking better right after I posted on Monday. E finished off her lessons writing a great page all about herself. At first, she found the task a bit too open ended, but I did give her some suggestions. Soon after that, she had finished writing the whole page.

To answer Nancy/Iowa's question, yes we are homeschooling. This is my third year homeschooling E and D is just starting. Yesterday and today's lessons went really smoothly. D is still enthusiastic about his lessons. He doesn't want to stop when I do. E was like that when we started kindergarten. From my experiences with her, I know to cut him off before he gets burnt out or tired.

Back to knitting news...the shawl is moving along. The designer got back to me and things sped along after that. Now, I'm waiting for the next section from her. While waiting, I've gone back to knitting socks. I started and completed a pair of socks for D using leftovers. I used around 40gms for his socks. Now, I'm knitting a pair for E. Her socks have gotten to the size where I can no longer use the leftovers from my socks. They're just not enough. For the sock that I'm knitting for her right now, I've added in toes and heels in a solid color to stretch other yarn. After this pair, I'll have to dive into the new yarns to make socks for her.

The kids need more socks for this winter. Just about all of their other socks fit perfectly or are too small. I should be able to easily complete my 52 pairs in a year goal while knitting socks for them. I need to knit each of them more pairs to rotate through for this winter too. Some of last winter's socks have died and gone to sock heaven. ;-) All of the socks that D and E have worn through were 100% wool. I'm going to stick with wool/nylon blends for them in the future. Sure they're not as soft, but the kids don't notice or comment about it. They just like having the colorful socks.

Both of my test knitters have gotten in touch with me this week. It's so encouraging to hear from them. They did have a few questions about the same area in the pattern. I've added some clarification to my pattern that will hopefully help when it's released as a mystery sock.

No pictures today. It's nice and cool in the house and hot outside. Okay, it's warm. But 80 degrees does feel hot if it's only around 70 degrees indoors. I love the cool evening and night temperatures. It keeps me motivated to knit because it feels like fall is already here. I have a few other things that I want to knit for the kids for this fall and winter. I need to get moving if they're going to be done in time to be useful.

Back to school time and...

I'm feeling drained already. It's only 1pm and what a morning! D started his kindergarten lessons and did great. He wasn't very enthusiastic about starting, but he didn't want to stop once we started. That was encouraging for me. E started the the day off great, but hit a bump in the road. It was pretty much down hill after that. sigh.

In the knitting area, I'm testing knitting a shawl and I hit a bump with that too. I can't get my next row to line up properly. That's frustrating. I've checked to see if I made any mistakes and everything looks good up until this line. I'll have to wait to hear from the designer.

I'm also having my mystery sock test knitted by two people. So far, so good. I did have an error about the way I referred to the multiple charts. oops. I did it one way in the file with the complete pattern, but had to change it to accommodate the pattern being separated into four clues. I'm happy that the charts do seem to be correct.

Beyond that, I'm still working on writing up other sock patterns. I think that I have most of the pattern portion written for a few of them. Now, I'm trying to figure out the best way to get the big charts into the pdf without making the file size huge or the charts looking blurry. I'll probably have those test knitted too before I let them out.

I have no socks on the needles. Yikes! I think that I'll start a plain stockinette sock to work on while the kids are doing lessons. That's all that I can manage right now. ;-)

Details for the sock above:
Pair #15 for the 52 Pair Plunge II
Yarn: Lovesticks in Count Sockula
Needle: size 0 (2mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Method: magic loop, 2 at once, toe-up with Turkish cast-on, short row heel
Start: August 7, 2008
Finish: August 10, 2008

Toys and lace progress

Isn't she cute! She is a Tiny Topsy-Turvy Doll from the Jemima-Jane and Friends book by Jean Greenhowe. I didn't exactly follow the pattern. She's supposed to have a hat with flowers, but I'm not a flower as embellishment type of person. ;-) The pattern is so well written. It even tells you in great detail how to sew the face onto the doll to ensure that it's centered. I wanted to try this doll first because she's not that big. She measures around 8 inches tall.

I think the yarns I used were thicker than what is used in the pattern. This doll ended up taller and larger around than what is stated in the book. I only bought the bone colored yarn for the skin. The rest are leftovers from old projects. It's not very fun to knit Red Heart or Caron's Simply Soft on size 2(3mm) needles. I used whatever colors that I had on hand and that meant dipping into the Cotton-ease. That was worse that the acrylic on 3mm needles. Thankfully, I was only working on this at night and not for long periods of time since it was torture on my hands. I battled through and finished it.

This is the other side of the doll when you flip her over. One really big change that I would make when making another Jean Greenhowe toy is to knit most of the pieces in the round. All of the pieces of this doll were supposed to be knit flat and then seamed. Yuck!! I'm not doing it that way again unless I see a really good reason for it. After finishing this one, I don't see why you couldn't knit every piece in the round.

Details:
Pattern: Tiny Topsy-Turvy Doll from Jean Greenhowe's Jemima Jane and Friends
Yarn: various Caron Simply Soft, Red Heart, and Lionbrand's Cottonease
Needles: size 2 needles
Changes: I used whatever yarn that I had on hand.
Start: January 5, 2008
Finish: January 10, 2008

Here is my Spring Surprise Shawl progress through clue #4. I like how the bird's eye section ended. I can't wait to see what the next section will be. I wonder if it will open up again and have a different stitch pattern in the center? The shawl is still fun and a fast knit. I got the clue this morning and finished it this evening. I didn't knit on it constantly all day either. I could have stretched more for this picture, but I didn't feel like getting a larger piece of black fabric out. All of the circles on the edges look weird, but that's just because they weren't stretched properly. They look really cool when they're stretched out. When I block this shawl, I'm going to really stretch it out. In this picture, it is around 24 inches wide and 26 inches long. This one is done and is now resting on my desk again.

Speaking of fast knits, here is my progress on my Gothic Irtfa'a. I'm finished with the shawl portion and I'm into the endless edging. The edging on this side is slow going because it's in reverse stockinette. I've read that the second half of the edging is faster going and I really hope so. I'm using my knit backwards technique to do this part.

Besides knitting shawls, I took some time out to color with E and D today. We're not finished, but I'll put those up when we're done. The sheets were from a book with tessellations and geometric designs. D had tessellating fish. E had flowers in a geometric design. Mine was a tessellation too. It was a lot of fun coloring, but my hands aren't used to that kind of motion. I must be getting old if coloring wears out my hand. ;-)

Lessons are going great. This past weekend, I bought a handwriting workbook at Sam's. It has print and cursive practice sheets in it. E has started on the print section and she did great today. She really likes these types of workbooks and usually finds them fun. I should include them into our lessons more.

I have to include a little rant section today. It's so freakin' cold!!!! I don't like seeing single digits or days where the high doesn't get above freezing. Then there is the interest rate decreases. Yuck. Are we the only people that actually save money and want to earn interest on it? Oh yeah, we can invest it, but look at the stock market. Ick!

Enough of that...I hope everyone is having a great week. Keep your eyes out for a finished Irtfa'a shawl.

A Gothic Rose and a Surprise

I still seem to have lace on the brain. I'm currently working on two different shawls/stoles. This is clues 1-3 of the Spring Surprise Stole. I'm knitting it out of Colourmart's 2/28 cashmere yarn on size 2 (2.75mm) Knit Picks circular needles. Lul said that this would be a challenging stole and it is. Those circles along the border are very different than what I've seen in lace patterns. Then there is the bird's eye section inside the large circle in the center. That requires a lot of attention. I've finally gotten the hang of it and clue 3 went by rather quickly. This stole will have 12 clues and that leaves me plenty of time to work on other things.

The cashmere yarn is coned and oiled. Coming off of the cone, it doesn't feel anything like cashmere should feel. This is what it looks like after a hot bath with a lot of soap. It fluffs up a lot and becomes really airy and soft. This little swatch is just about weightless. I can't wait to see how the stole feels after it's been washed and blocked. I should have measured the swatch before I washed it, but I didn't. It did shrink a little, but I'm not 100% sure how much.

Since the Spring Surprise Stole will be a drawn out knitalong, I've picked out another shawl to do. This will be Irtfa'a, another Knitspot pattern. So far, the pattern is a quick knit. I've already done the neck edge and the first 28 rows and I just started on yesterday. I'm on the second set of 28 rows. This is another well done pattern by Anne. I'm so amazed that she can crank out these patterns so quickly and get all of these stitches to flow together so nicely.

I'm knitting this out of Dream in Color's baby yarn in the Gothic Rose color. Gothic Rose is a pain in the *** to photograph. It's a deep reddish, brownish, dark color that looks different under certain lights. The yarn is a heavier type of laceweight. I usually use a size 3 needle with typical lace weight yarn, but I'm using a size 4 needle for this shawl. This yarn looks huge compared to the 2/28 yarn that I'm using for the Spring Surprise Stole.

After Irtfa'a is done, I have some sewing projects that I want to do. I have all of the fabric that I need for E and D's quilts. I just need to decide on a layout and size. That is going to be a huge project. I'm not really looking forward to it because I'm going to have to clear out a lot of stuff to sew those. But they will be so cute when they're done.

Lessons have been going well with E. She started cursive today and wasn't too thrilled with the letter practice. She's been fascinated by cursive whenever I write it and has asked about learning it. When trying it out today, she said that it was a lot harder than she thought. ;-) I had to remind her that she didn't learn how to print the alphabet neatly on the first day. I don't think she's going to like the repetition of practicing her letters again. I'll have to think of interesting to make it fun for her.

Snow day

We're back into the swing of our lessons again. We started yesterday, but all of the snow outside was so tempting. We did do a full day of lessons yesterday, but we're taking some time off today. E did really well on some review work yesterday, she's ahead of schedule on her work, and another day off won't hurt. We tromped around our yard and the neighbor's yard yesterday and today. E and D had a lot of fun near that creek in the picture. I didn't have so much fun trying to get down there. There's a steep hill and the snow was so powdery and slippery. I hurt my wrist a little, but the camera was fine. I was more worried about my camera than my wrist.

It was so cold out there. It was in the 20's when E and D were at the creek, but it was around 15 when I took the snowflake pictures today. Funny how it doesn't bother the kids at all when they're playing. When we came in, we warmed up next to the wood stove and had some cocoa.

We did learn about snowflakes today. I took a lot of pictures of snowflakes. The super macro setting on my camera works great for this. It was hard picking something as a background. A knitted scarf had too much texture. After that, I tried a piece of construction paper. Did you know that construction paper is also very textured in a super macro picture? I was afraid to try anything smoother than that because of the wind.

I did get some decent pictures and had a very hard time trying to narrow them down. Here are some of my favorites. Click to see the bigger picture.


Also today, E drew a picture of a princess and wrote a story about her. In the curriculum that we're using, E had to do quite a bit of creative writing last year. This year, there hasn't been much. I'm having her do the creative writing along with her drawing practice. E also had to work on her story summaries. She tries to retell the whole story and I'm trying to get her to write shorter summaries. Other than that, today has been short day for her.

In knitting news, I'm still working on the Honeybee Stole. I'm around 75% done with it. It's going great, but I can't wait until it's finished. I want to move on to another project. Next, I'm planning on knitting the first clue for the Spring Surprise Shawl or a Jean Greenhowe doll for E.