Stream of consciousness

I did take pictures for this post, but I didn't like how any of them turned out. I'll try again another day. So many things going on, I'll just list some of them.

My daughter had a birthday. The day was filled with all of the things that she wanted to do. One was to learn how to weave! She started and finished her first scarf on my Cricket. She liked weaving a lot more than knitting or crocheting. I finished her quilt and she loves it!

My 25 inch Schacht Flip arrived and I've woven one thing on it. I made a 16 inch wide scarf/shawl with sport weight yarn to try out the loom. Next up, I want to use my Colourmart cashmere yarn or the cashmere/silk blend to make a really thin and wide scarf/shawl. Before I do that, I tested out a 100% cashmere scarf on the Cricket. I only broke one warp thread while trying to wind it on. Not bad and the scarf looks so light and fluffy.

I finished two new sock designs, but those are the pictures that I didn't like. I need to take a break from design so I can write up these patterns! Two sock patterns have been tested and those will be released soon. I had issues with the 80 stitch size in one of the patterns. I'm still thinking about cutting that size out.

I finished a pair of fingerless mitts for my sister. She saw the purple pair and liked them, but I had to make them in a more sister-friendly color. I also wrote out the pattern for it and that needs to be tested.

My sister let me watch many episodes of The Vampire Diaries off of her dvr while I visited last year. I bought season 1 on dvd and have been watching/listening to it while weaving or knitting in the evenings.

Cookie A.'s sock club has started!! The first set of patterns is very cool. I want to try to make the cookies too, but I need to go shopping for ingredients.

There's still space left in the Heisenberg Principle sock club. If you like some of the self-striping socks that I've knit recently, run on over there and sign up. I really like how flexible the club is. You can pick dyer's choice of yarn bases or you can pick to have all shipments in a certain base. You can also add-on a mini skein for heels/toes.

The wood laminate part of our flooring project is done! We want to put something else in the kitchen, but haven't decided on it yet. I've bought curtains/drapes(what's the difference?) for our former dining room/future office. They're a deep red, shiny, and pretty! Now, I just need to order the furniture for that room.

Right now, I only have 1 pair of self-striping socks on the needles.

When a fairy chases a pirate...

The pirate may look happy, but he isn't very happy when caught. Maybe it's because pirates shouldn't be caught by fairies? Maybe it's because he wasn't happy getting hit by the magic wand? Maybe it was because he's barefoot and stepped on many acorns while running? What did this pirate do? He dropped his leather belt and sword (maybe they were slowing him down) and kept running.

This year D wanted to be a pirate again. I was very cool with that idea because I loved his costume last year. He makes for a very cute pirate and loves to go around saying "arrrrrrr matey." I did add the foam sword and the leather belt across his chest. Everything else is the same as last year. There are "boots" that go over his shoes, but he didn't want to wear those for the pictures.

The hat is actually from a pattern for toddler hats. I used the basic hat pattern, but made the brim a lot larger. Then I tacked it up in three spots. The shirt, vest, and pants are from various sewing patterns. I bought them on sale for .99 and picked the pieces that I thought went together. The "hair" is just a piece of fabric with yarn sewed to the inside. Two strands of the hair have beads on them, very similar to the movie pirate.

E wanted to be a princess. Then she wanted to be a good witch. Whatever it was, she wanted to it to be pretty and in a girly color. I suggested a fairy since she's been into the Barbie movies lately. She has been a fairy before, but I was unhappy with the way the wings turned out that year. This year, I wanted to see if I could make better wings. So, we started with the wings and went from there.

For the wings, I used various tutorials over on craftster. I decided not to sew a dress. Instead, I went with a skirt that you can see with the Monica pattern at Knitty. The instructions for the very easy skirt are at the Barefoot Knits. The top was store bought and then I added some stones to it to match the wings. The crown was recycled from another old costume. It's actually a plain comb-like headband that you can find in the crafts section. On the headband section, I tied on some tulle that was cut from the ends of the skirt. To the comb section, I weaved in some beaded wire and formed the crown.

The lighting in these pictures changes so much. These were all taken on the same day and all around the same time.

In knitting news, I'm working away at clue 5 on the Secret of Chrysopolis shawl. I have 12 rows left of that clue. I'll work on the Secret of the Stole next. I have been sewing too! My poor sewing machine has been neglected this year. I made myself a new bag. I like it, but it's a bit bulky. I'm thinking of making it again, but using different fabrics.

SOS #22 and yarn bases

This sock was finished in record time. That's probably because it's sport weight yarn and I'm familiar with this stitch pattern already. This is the pattern that I made up below. I took out a repeat to use it in this thicker yarn. The results? I like it. The socks are very thick and they feel very sturdy. Most of my sport weight socks are plain stockinette, so these are a nice addition to the collection. ;-)

The yarn is Zen String Serendipity Sport in the Valentino color. The yarn is "100% African super wash Merino wool." That was taken straight off of the tag. I've never used this yarn yet and I do like it. It's strange for a wool though because if feels and acts like cotton. It felt a bit stiff and not very stretchy. There isn't much bounce and springy-ness to this yarn, but it does feel very sturdy. We'll see how it does in the wash when the weather gets cooler. I would use this yarn again, but I want to try a fingering weight version next time.

The yarn bases that indie dyers use are interesting. I'm assuming that there can only be so many bases out there and many dyers are using the same kinds of bases. You can easily tell which ones are using similar bases. I've found that I like the 100% wool bases much better than the merino/nylon blends. The blends are thinner and the 100% wools are springier. I don't know which one would last longer in the end. I've only been knitting socks since 2005 and none of them have worn out yet.

Details:
Yarn: Zen String Serendipity Sport in Valentino
Needle: size 1 (2.5mm) Addi Turbo
Method: magic loop, two at once, toe up with Turkish cast-on, short row heel
Pattern: something I made up
Start: August 24, 2007
Finish: August 25, 2007

Up next, I'm knitting more socks--big surprise! This time I'm using Colinette Jitterbug. I'm working on the toe and trying to figure out if I want to make a patterned sock or plain stockinette sock.

E's lessons have been going great so far. Of course, we have our cranky lessons, but it's been great most of the time. She remembers most of what she learned last spring, but we do need to work on a few things. Those are telling time and main ideas. She thinks that science has been the most fun so far. She's learning about plants right now. We've planted beans, stuck a sweet potato in water to see roots grow, and put a stalk of celery in colored water. She has a full grown garden outside, but we planted another bean in a cup to keep near the house. From her outdoor garden, she's drying some sunflower seeds for the birds. With the last storm, one sunflower was knocked over and broken.

This picture was taken today. We put these temporary tattoos on them and they thought it was a lot of fun. They picked those spots themselves. D's spot on his tummy is so funny. He likes that he can stretch or squish the fire truck. Yup, he's my funny little guy.

SOS #11 done and rain!!!

We're finally getting a decent amount of rain. It has been so dry here. We primarily use cistern (rain water off of our roof) water for washing and everyday use around the house. We have wells for drinking water and back up. Last night and this morning we got some rain. I love thunderstorms and we had some good lightning and thunder this morning too. We haven't had many of those this spring/summer.

I've finished another sock. This one was a lot of fun to make. I love the yarn and the pattern and they went really well together. The yarn is Dream In Color's smooshy yarn and it is smooshy. The pattern is Cookie A's Thelonious sock. This is the first pattern of hers that I've bought and it is well done. The instructions and charts are great. If I had thought of it, I would have made these socks taller. Where they land on my leg makes them prone to slouching. Oh well. I might try running some clear elastic around the cuff to see if that helps.

Details:
Yarn: Dream In Color Smooshy - In Vino Veritas
Needles: size 1 (2.25mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Method: magic loop, one at a time, cuff down
Pattern: Thelonious by Cookie A.
Start: July 17, 2007
Finish: July 19, 2007

I realized that I didn't have any recent pictures of E and D together. It's hard enough trying to get them to look at the camera when they're by themselves. It's near impossible when they're together. My method is to get them to make faces. Sure they're not smiling, but I'm just glad that they're looking my way.

The last picture that I took is my favorite. It probably sums up what they think of taking pictures.

It's getting hot, so let's get ice cream!

Well not real ice cream, but Ice Cream Sundae from Stone Fiber Barn looks yummy. Here is my latest sock. There was another sock that was started and frogged, but we'll not talk about that one. This one was fun to knit. The yarn is very squishy and stretchy. I thought that the sock might turn out too big, but it's perfect. It's too bad that 80+ degree days are here. I'll have to stash these socks for next fall. I fell back to the Stansfield 304 pattern again that was last seen in my Perchance to Knit socks. I still like this pattern. It's easy to memorize, not boring to do, and makes a cool zig-zag pattern with somewhat stripey yarn.

Details:
Yarn: Stone Barn Fibers in Ice Cream Sundae bought from The Loopy Ewe
Needles: size 0 Knitpicks classic circulars
Pattern: Stansfield 304 on pg. 101 in More Sensational Knitted Socks
Method: toe-up with Turkish cast-on and a short row heel
Start: May 19, 2007
Finish: May 24, 2007

Up next is another pair of socks for me. I've been knitting socks for a while and have a lot of pairs, but I'm just now getting more confident in making socks for other people. My sister has been a guinea pig for a while and I think that I might be ready to branch out to the rest of the family. Now everyone--don't start making requests. I still have a long to-do list. ;-) Now, it's time for some kid pictures. On the left is what I get when playing kids get asked to "let mommy take a picture."

And this is what E looks like when she cooperates with the camera. :-D I know her hair is a mess, but I like it in this picture. She has such beautiful hair, but what a pain it is to tame. So, I just let it be wild...kind of like E.



This is what D looks like when asked to smile for the camera. He's in the every smile must be a cheesy smile phase. I have so many pictures of E doing that same smile. This was taken a few days ago when we made some chocolate chip cookies. Can you tell how much he liked them?