Every sweater needs a matching hat

 
This hat is a cross between the marley hat in Itty Bitty Hats and the Tulip sweater pattern from Dream in Color. I still have a lot of yarn left and am accessorizing away.

Back to blogging

 
When insight was bought out by comcastic, I ran into some technical difficulties. I think I'm all sorted out now and can blog again. The sweater is the Dream in Color Tulips baby sweater. I knit it out of Bunny Hop from Crystal Palace and I love it!

too cute!

 

Random Projects

Here are some random projectss that I have been working on. There are two sideways sockyarn baby sweaters, and two pairs of baby socks. I've been knitting as much as possible, but haven't had much time for blogging. I'm still adjusting to being a mom of six.
 
 
 
 

More modeling

 
 
 

Modeling all this knitwear is hard work!

 
 
 
 

I have been knitting!

 
This is a baby dale sweater, not knit to gauge. It's topped off with the Upside Down Daisy Hat from Itty Bitty Baby Hats.

Still alive, barely

 
 
All 7 of us have a nasty respiratory bug that is going around. This is day 8 for me. The first two days I was too sick to knit. Day three I was able to knit 1-2 rows on a sock before I had to take a nap. Things have been steadily improving and now I am able to knit quite a bit. The hat is from Itty-Bitty Baby Hats. I used sublime yarn to match the Lily the Pink sweater I finished a while back. I also finished the baby ull socks for my 3 year old.

4 years later...

 
they're finished. This was my first February goal.

Showing Off!

These are my "Little Coriolis - your second learning sock" from Cat Bordhi's new book, "New Pathways for Sock Knitters." I originally had no interest in this book. I have a sock recipe for each member of my family who I knit socks for. It's taken a while to get it down so everyone's socks fit properly. A customer at the Yarn Shop that I teach at wanted someone to run a knitalong for this book. I choked on the price of the book, but eventually caved and bought it. Since then, I have had the best time knitting the first two socks. I've sucked in another friend who has had an equally good time. These socks are addictive. The downside is that one does have to read the directions, taking the mindless bit out of knitting socks. If I did one sock multiple times, I think that I would hit the mindless knitting phase with these patterns also. The instructions are well written, and there are videos on Cat Bordhi's website to nurse you through the first sock. I only had one problem on the first sock that I had to check the videos to clarify.
 
 
 
 

Exceeded Expectations

First Up: Modified Dublin Bay Socks for mom knit out of Great Adirondack sock yarn with silk in it.
 
Next up, Noro for me!
 
bonus January knitting: Size 10 Children's sock out of Opal 6 ply. I can get one ladies size 8 pair and one children's size 10 pair out of one 150g ball.
 

January Goals Met!

I'll have to take some pictures. I'm now pondering my February Goals. How long do you have to own yarn for it to be considered "knitting from the stash?"

Finished objects!

Lily the Pink from Sublime made with Sublime yarn and a lot of modifications. This pattern needed a lot of help. The moral here is think before you knit. The shaped shoulders (shaped with cast-off stitches) and shaped back do not sew up well. I wasn't smart enough to figure that out in advance. I should have reknit, but was too lazy. The shoulders have a seriously deep seam allowance. I woke up on the sleeves and instead of casting off two stitches something like 12 times, I did decreases every row to make a nice gentle slope that was much easier to sew in. I also changed a lot of the decreases so that they sloped the proper direction.
 
A back shot of the sublime baby sweater.
 
Little Sky Sock from Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters. I had the best time knitting these socks and remain totally proud of them.
 
 

Another FO!

I just finished the Valentine Socks. I'll post pictures later. I'm looking at the rest of my January Goals and how many days are left in the month. Realistically speaking, it doesn't look good. I still only have 1 noro sock finished and it's mate is cast on and I think the ribbing is completed. Mom's first sock has about 3" left and it's mate is a mere glimmer in my eye. The Sublime baby sweater is coming along with many pattern alterations which have involved some ripping. I'm almost through the second sleeve. I then have to block it, sew it up, pick-up the neck band and knit the cute little frill. I'm guessing it will take a couple of tries on the neck band, sewing up and the frill. If the children cooperate, I might get it all done. I'm already starting to think about Feb. goals.

Socks from Stash Club

I just found this knitalong on the 2008 knitalong site and it looked like a good idea. Knitting stash sock yarn is one of my many knitting New Year's Resolutions. I've actually finished one pair of socks from stash yarn and I'm working on a second for the New Year. I'll post pictures later.

Not so good pictures of what is in my knitting bag...

 
 
 
 
These are all the items that I am carrying around with me and working on diligently. Well, most of them anyway. I hope to come up with 3 pairs of finished socks and one finished baby sweater by the end of the month. I already have a pair of felted children's slippers knit, I just need to find my pillowcase to felt them.

First FO of 08

 
Socks for my mom. I finished them on New Year's Day. It's true, they were a Christmas Present and should have been finished sooner. But, they are done now and I am pleased.

Christmas Gifts Continue...

 We are making two of these. A LOT of MISTAKES have been made, slowing down the process and resulting in very little sleep. I think Grandma would notice if a whole row was on upside down.

Yes, I do still knit

 The plain colored are Shi Bui dk baby alpaca and the self-striping are Opal 6 ply. If I am disciplined, I can knit a pair in 4 days.

A distractor

 
The Christmas knitting continues and we wouldn't want any spoilers. Pictures after the holiday. In the meantime, enjoy some "Snowman Soup" and stay warm. The stamps are from Stampin Up.

Christmas Treats all in a Row

 

Christmas Candle

 

Treat Boxes

 
 
I'm going to Bunco on Thursday night with my Stampin Up friends. It's my turn to "host" a party so I'll be giving out treats and possibly some door prizes. These will be filled with hersheys kisses in cello bags with a ribbon. I'll probably post a picture of them when they are finished.

Holiday preperations

 
 
 
These are a few of the things I've been working on for the holidays. We made over a hundred of the little pumpkins. Each one has 4 hersheys kisses in it. They've been a huge hit with children and adults alike. I've just started making Christmas cards.

Needleworks Ebay Store

Overstock from my favorite knit shop is now available in an Ebay store. Click on the title to look around.

Open House at Needleworks in Champaign - Urbana

The 2007 Fall Open House is September 28, 29, and 30
There will be trunk shows (from Shibui, Classic Elite, and Joy's Needlepoint), door prizes, special discounts, and refreshments! Friday and Saturday the shop will open during our normal hours (9:30am to 5:00pm), but on Sunday, the hours are 9:30am to 4:00pm for the one Sunday a year we are open.

Remembered my password!

 
 
 
 
It's been such a long time since I blogged, I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to. The pictures are from a shower last weekend. I made the treat bags for the guests. I used Stampin Up products. The stamp sets are Delight in Life and Doodle That. Both are retired. The sweater is the Elizabeth Zimmerman Baby Surprise in Laines Du Nord Baby Star. There is nothing like a good superwash merino for baby knitting.

More Cards

 
 
 
 
I taught Magic Loop Socks yesterday. I made each member of the class one of the sock cards. My handwriting is not so good, but other than that, I thought they were pretty cute.

End of the semester treat bags

 
that I handed out to my beginning knitting students. They have a retractable measuring tape and stitch markers in them.

Long time no blog

 
It's been very busy around here lately. I'll try and catch up soon. I am still knitting. One of my students made me this really nifty shirt and gave it to me at our last day of class party.

More stampin up

 
 
 
I really do still knit. I'm working on a circular shawl class right now and the plain old boring vanilla sweater continues.
The cards are made using the stampin up sets Hedgehog Happiness and Delight in Life.

Hedgehog Happiness from Stampin Up

 This is a card my friend, Theresa, made this weekend. We've been quite enjoying the papercrafts. I chose to post this picture instead of my sweater progress. My sweater is a plain vanilla stockinette cardigan. There's not much interest there visually. Today I picked up my Lucy Neatby Sock Essentials 1 & 2 knitting videos. I'm quite excited. I'm sure that after I watch these, I will be a supreme sock knitter. Those socks should just flow off my needles and I'll be a much better teacher too. Well, back to nursing a sick toddler.

More stampin

 
 
It's a birthday gift.

Stampin Up

 
I helped my friend, Theresa, make these shower invitations. I've been going to Stampin Up parties with the nice people I worked with on the fundraiser for the baby on the ventilator. The knitting related bit is that I am waiting for a stamp set that has knitting needles and yarn in it. I'm so excited about my wee ball of yarn stamper.

 

Almost a ripe tomato!

 
This gives a clue that there has been limited knitting. I've been under the weather and had to have some icky medical tests and spend lots of time at the clinic, the ER, and even GI lab. Things seem to be sorting out. My plain vanilla sweater is coming along. Less than 3" to the ribbing.

Been Gardening

 
My flower pots are all lined up and filled for the summer. I put some purple dragon in the flower garden and peppers and tomatoes in the vegetable garden.
I have been knitting, but it is literally a plain vanilla stockinette stitch cardigan sweater. One can't appreciate this sweater without feeling it. The yarn is called sublime and it is really soft. It has a touch of cashmere in it. I'm also playing around with some Boku double stranded to make a bag.

Still here

I taught magic loop this morning and it went fantastic. The two hours flew by and we all had a bit of a sock completed by the end. I tried out the new addi lace needles and quite liked the tip. I was working with tofutsies (sp?) for the first time. I had to rip because my usual number of stitches looked a bit small. I use lots and lots of wool and had to accomodate the lack of stretch.

In other news, my latest STR sock kit came and I love the yarn. The color is much better this time and it is a new STR that has silk in it and it is very soft. Unfortunately, I'm still working on the last sock kit. I'm falling way behind.

Dear Kate,

The scarf you knit for the silent auction is lovely. What's that, where is the picture? It's coming soon. I'm off tonight to Peg's to work on packaging up gift baskets and taking pictures. In the last 24 hours I have typed in no less than 191 auction item entries. I then updated the excel spreadsheet to show the total of retail value auction items is 7,533.12 and the amount in retail value of door prizes is 292.00. I've managed to keep all five children alive, even after Noah stole Caleb's cinnamon roll from Panerra. I did replace the swings (took all 5 children to Home Depot) and Abby hung them. I think there were 5 other errangs in there including stopping by the shop to buy some needles yesterday. I'm itching to visit my lace knitting, but I suppose I should cook the children dinner before I go back to work on the auction.
Love,
Kara

The auction committee relaxing after another tough day fundraising

Well, not much knitting time. A fellow knitter has a little baby at home on a ventilator. He was born premature with birth defect. So, since having 5 children and homeschooling wasn't enough to keep me busy. I decided to have a HUGE fundraising event. We are having a silent auction, craft sale, bake sale, children's games, refreshments kind of fundraiser. The above fellow was donated by Dallas & Co. Until this afternoon, I didn't fully appreciate his potential. I had taken a picture of him last week and the lighting wasn't good. So one of my partners in crime, Peg, suggested a reshoot. When Peg and her husband put him in the lawn chair, I took one look at him and said, "He needs a beer!" The couple said they had said the same thing. So, John went and got a beer. This tiger is growing on me, but he is not, let me repeat, NOT, coming home to live with my five children! He takes up more room than the three youngest.

Easter at the Cake Artist Studio

The Cake Artist Studio donated a gift certificate for the auction. Here are my Easter purchases from there. They were really good!

Highland Thistle Scarf

Kathy in the comments asked for a picture of a highland thistle scarf. These are all the same pattern made from Highland Thistle from Hobby Lobby.

Attention Midwest Knitters!

It is now time to get out your "storm siren knitting." This year I am going to put together a kit for when I'm in the basement bathroom listening to yet another storm rip off yet another storm door. I had no idea the name "storm door" comes from the fact that the storm takes the door and then you have to buy another. I have less than an hour to decide what this year's project will be. I plan never to be trapped in the bathroom with 5 kids and no knitting again.