Progress on the Socks and Malorie to the LYS

I'm taking Malorie to a beginning knitting class today. She has expressed an interest in learning to knit, but I have a hard time teaching it. So when I got the LYS flier for classes last week and the class was being offered, I jumped on it. I'm going to go with her. I'm trying to spend time with just her. It gets hard to do, but I'm working on it.

I have one of Kolby's "submarine" socks done. I use the submarine term because these are the absolutely longest socks I've knitted and it looks like a green sub. I'm doing a little bit of other knitting right now. I need to take a break from the socks and church is getting ready for its Fall Bazaar that raises money for mission groups. I figured I could knit up some booties, a scarf and maybe a few dishcloths. This knitting will get rid of the Red Heart yarn my neighbor's mother gave me. Plus I'll get away from the socks long enough to appreciate them again when I knit on them again.

I've been knitting when I'm subbing or watching Miller's soccer games, but I've been up to a little sewing too. Miller wanted to be Yoda for Halloween and Jodi's nephew need a donut costume so the machine has been out and roaring to life again.

Well it's off to the LYS with Malorie. I'll take pix to show you how she does.

Why are people amazed by knitting?

I've started Kolby's sock request. I went to the LYS to get some sock yarn that was blue and yellow and couldn't find any. So.., I called Kolby. They're going to be his socks, so he should choose the yarn. Well, he drove up to the store came inside and was a little astounded by how much yarn there was to choose from. He decided on an electric green. It's not neon, but it's very vibrant.

I've been taking these socks everywhere. I want to get them done, but I'm still working on the toe of the first sock. This is not good since I doing toe-up socks! His size 12 feet are a little bigger than my kids, so I wasn't quite prepared to do so many wrap and turns.

Sorry for that detour into my wrap and turn obsession, anyway people seem amazed that I knit. On Sunday I took my knitting to the girl's volleyball games to do between long waits for each game. I had three people amazed that I knit and that they remembered their grandma doing it. (WHY DOES EVERYONE THINK ONLY OLD LADIES KNIT?) Then on Monday I was at my women's league volleyball game and took out my knitting to work for the hour long wait for our next games. Again more people were amazed that I knit. I think so were surprised that I did any craft work at all. Then when I told the recreation tech who was in charge of the volleyball games that night that I blog about my knitting I thought he was going to laugh himself into a heart attack. He couldn't believe that I knitted, but also that I blogged about it. Oh, if he even Googled knitting blogs he would be severely in shock on the amount of them! I mean look at the link about 790,000 hits from Google!!! That's not even taking into effect the people who blog about their knitting but it's not their primary subject!

Well I'm off to sub this afternoon and I'll take my socks with me. The kids think it's a hoot to see me work with all those needles and it gives me something to do while they are in music class!

Baby Sweater Down, Socks To Go

I finished baby Jentri's sweater and booties. The pattern is Helena from Knitty. I did change it a bit. The pattern called for 6 repeats of the arrow pattern, but after about 3 repeats are started thinking (which is a scary thing for me to do) the sweater would be way too long for Jentri. Her momma isn't the tallest person in the world. If she gets any height, it's gonna have to come from daddy!

The booties pattern is from Saartje's knits. I had to knit 4 of these little guys. Each time my sizing was off. Finally I knitted two that actually were close in size. It drives me crazy how my gauge can switch from one size to another depending on the day that I'm knitting.

I used plain ol' Peaches and Cream yarn for both. I love this colorway and it seems so perfect for a baby. The best part about the yarn is that it is cotton which is a great fiber to have with little ones. It's soft, durable and is easy to wash.

Now I've got to get started on my Christmas knitting. Socks, hats and hairbands. These things should go pretty easy. I've got to do stripes on the socks, so I'll be adding something new to my abilities. Last night I was looking for the booties pattern and found a headband pattern that I think the girls will like. We are going skiing at Christmas time, so I figured this would be a great stocking stuffer for the girls. I may even make one for me.

I'm seeing red, I'm seeing red!! Help!

I need to stay knitting on my baby items, but the tomatoes keep coming. Kevin's grandparents have been sending us tomatoes. I not complaining too much, but 3 Wal-Mart size bags every 4 days is a little overboard. I've made salsa, Italian seasoned tomatoes and even just canned tomatoes. I'm kinda getting sick of the color of red. I know that it will be great in February when I want to make some spaghetti sauce and I can go to the pantry and pull out a can of tomatoes. I'm just over tomatoed! (I wonder if the New England Journal of Medicine has ever done a case study? If not, do you think they would pay me to show the side effects of tomato processing at home?)

See all the RED. Wouldn't you be a little sick of the color after 4 hours of canning?

School starts a week from yesterday and I can honestly say I think I'm ready for it. Granted Miller will be in Kindergarten all day and this will be the first time in 9 years that I haven't had a kid home during the school year. I plan on substitute teaching some more this year, which benefits my knitting. I can always knit when the kids are at recess, lunch, PE or Music. When I went to enroll Audrey and Miller, the principal of the 2nd-3rd grade school asked me if I had all my sub paperwork in. When I said yes he snatched me to sub on the 1st Friday of the school year. I think I 'll start on my nephew's socks for my subbing project. Socks are so easy to take places to knit and it amazes people that you use 4 needles. It kind of looks like a torture device. (Sometimes I think it is!)

Shawl, socks, baby stuff and kids

Shawn's prayer shawl is done. It didn't take too long, but I just had a hard time getting into the groove about doing it. I used a pattern from Jennifer Worick's book Getting Started Knitting. I had done it earlier when I was working on prayer shawls for church. This one turned out much better than the first. I was more confident when I clipped the stitches and adding fringe helped give it a more complete look. I packed it up and will send it first thing in the morning.

I'm going to continue on Jentri's stuff now. Hopefully, I'll get it done before she turns 15! Then I'm going to get started on my nephew's Christmas stuff. My oldest nephew saw a pair of Miller's socks and now he wants some. Who would think that a 17-year-old would want something like that. He even put in a color request.

I thought I'd add a pix of the kids. I took this a couple days after Malorie got back from camp. She had a great time and I think her siblings were definitely ready to see her again. Malorie brought back the stuffed animals Audrey and Miller are holding.

Messenger Bag

I've finished Audrey's messenger bag. I was a little worried that it would be too small, but I was able to fit Kevin's old lap top in it and close it with buttons. So that means it will work for school. Kevin even liked it, which surprised me since he could usually care less about what I knit. It took about 15 T-shirts, 2 buttons and almost 3 weeks to do, but here it is.....

Notice Audrey's sophisticated model stance. She's so into fashion and art that it scares me sometimes. The bag is a little long on the strap, but in her optimism Audrey said it was perfect. And of course little brother has to get into the picture too. Audrey was a little irritated that Miller was in the shot, so I had to upload it. (Being the one who controls the blog is soooo powerful.)

I'm still working on baby items and will try to find another prayer shawl pattern to make for Shawn's rabbi. Tomorrow I go to pick up Malorie from summer camp, so I won't get much knitting done. It's a 4 hour drive there and back.

The Start of July and I'm Off to the Knitting Races

We survived the 4th of July. I ate too much, drank too much, and we did too many fireworks! It was a fun time.

I even finished knitting Audrey's school bag. It's made out of T-Shirts cut into 1 inch strips and knotted together to make one continuous fiber. (Many thanks to my husband, father and nephews in their donations of T-shirts.) I made a pattern and every thing for this bag. I kept track of how many rows I had and what size needles I used (US 15) and how many Bind offs and Cast ons I needed during the making. I am still working on the strap, but that will only take me an hour to finish. (I think I'll do it while I wait for the kids at Junior Golf.)

Here's the preblocking pictures.

I'm not sure on how the bag will block since it's 100% cotton I will really need to stretch it out. And the weight is incredible. I thought using 10 T-shirts wouldn't make it that heavy, but boy is it sturdy fabric. If you can't tell by the shape of the bag it's going to be a messenger bag. I'm not sure if it will be large enough for her school work, but she can use it for other things. I am going to block it tomorrow and then sew it up next week.

I've also worked on some adorable stuff for my friend Kristy's baby girl Jentri Jane Phipps. I've finished one piece but I'm still working on another. By the way Kristy, the items are for Jentri as she gets older about 6+ months. Knitted stuff in the summer is a bummer for babies.