New Year, New FO

I thought I'd start the year with some knitting content.

I'll pause while you all stand back up from the floor...

OK, here it is:

This was a Christmas gift for Todd and I am inordinately pleased with it. The pattern is VERY loosely based on an Irish Hiking Hat (Ravelry link). Loosely as in, "I cast on the 96 stitches the pattern called for and did a cable and rib patterned hat." Everything else I changed: order of the ribs and cables, width of the cables, height of the cables, the decreases... you get the idea.

The yarn is Malabrigo Worsted in Pearl Ten and I knit the hat on a size 8 Addi Turbo 16" circular and dpns.

I like the hat a lot but mostly I am pleased as punch with the way I worked out the decreases:

They make a fun, swirly pattern!

Should anyone be interested in the alterations I made, let me know- I actually took copious notes (shocking) so I know what I did.

I'm an Auntie!!

Yesterday my sister in law (hubby's brother's wife) gave birth to a beautiful little boy making me an aunt for the first time (I'm not posting a photo because I don't know how they'd feel about it).

Guess I'd better buckle down and finish up the knitted gifts... I'm working on the trio from the original Mason-Dixon Knitting




Baby Bib o' Love, still needs a button...



Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono. I'm now considerably further along than this, the back & left sleeve are completed and I have about ten more rows to go on the left side.



The Baby Genius Burp Cloth - done. Thank goodness something is done.

If you are wondering about the massive quantities of yellow for a baby boy I'd like to point out that the sex of the little one was a surprise until yesterday. This is actually why I am still knitting at this late date (no, it was just my natural tendency to procrastinate this time). I was all excited to knit cute little boy or girl things- had lists of them in my mind- but then my brother-in-law told us they weren't going to find out what they were having.

Plbbbbbbbbbbt.

All the air left my balloon of baby knitting happiness. I just couldn't get excited to knit unisex baby things. No idea why. It was terribly irrational. But then a week ago I realized that the due date was RAPIDLY approaching and some knitting must be done, so here you have it. Hopefully I'll have it all finished it the next couple days...

PS. I know. Two posts in a week. Try not to faint.

Ravelry Killed My Blogging Star...

And that's all I'm going to say about that.

Hi everyone! I hope you are all having lovely summers... I haven't been reading any blogs lately so I'm a bit behind- hopefully everything's groovy.

Groovy? Really? Man, I am out of practice.

Anyway, we're doing well here at Chez Sheep. A quick catch up:

The littles are still cute.

Matt turned one!!!

Gwen now thinks everything is a balance beam (even before the Olympics).

And I am still knitting...

gasp

This is my main Ravelympics project, the Clementine Shawlette from Interweave Knits (that's a Ravelry link, if you aren't signed up, MOM, get over there and do it). The yarn is Malabrigo Silky Merino in Camote and it is just delightful.

I'm not as far along as I'd like to be and I'm starting to think I won't finish before the closing ceremonies because I am also working on this:

The Subtle Stripe Vest by Lara Killian. This is going to be a gift for Todd for our anniversary at the end of the month so it has a definite deadline. (And I really hope that he doesn't read my blog... he says he doesn't so if he lied, well... too bad. No surprise for you.) The yarn is Cascade 220 Superwash which I like more than I thought I would. As much as I would have like to use Malabrigo Worsted for this vest Todd would felt it faster than you can say "Handknit."

That's it for now... I don't want to over do it- I might pull something as I work my way back into blogging shape.

IK Winter

The Interweave Knits Winter Preview is up!

I think I see a Henley Perfected in my future... ohhhhhh... and a Logan River Wrap.... and...

I'll just stop looking right now otherwise I'll never get back to my homework.

But one last thing: the Tilting Cable Socks....

... and the El Sol Pullover...

....stopping, really...

at least until it shows up on the shelves next Tuesday :)

Pushing Daisies!

Are any of you watching Pushing Daisies? Because if you are not, you should. Not only is it well written, clever, cute without being too saccharine, quirky and fun to watch there is KNITTING involved!!

That's right. One of the four main characters, the tough-talking-all-business-I'm-just-in-it-for-the-money PI, Emerson Cod, knits to relieve stress. In last week's episode, which I just watched courtesy of my DVR, they showed him knitting cables in his office which was replete with knit desk accessories: file holders, pencil cup, etc. He also knits a vest and 2 "gun cozies" during the episode. The knitting content isn't accurate per se but it is fun to see it included. Not often that you see a non-stereotypical person knitting in a tv show (one wonders how C.H.O.K.E. could allow this to happen!) No idea if the knitting will continue to show up or if this was a single episode quirk of a character's personality feature...

Even if they never mention it again I got a giggle out of the gun cozies and the show is well worth your time regardless of knitting content.

Follow the yellow brick road...

OK. So I already live in the Emerald City and technically I will be leaving Seattle to go to a suburb but I really feel like I am off to see the Wizard...

Hmmmmmm... Maybe the Pied Piper would be a better analogy?

At any rate, this evening I am going to see Her.

The Harlot.

She of the books that have made me snarf my grande, non-fat, decaf, not too hot, two Splenda latte (why yes, I do live in Seattle) on several occasions when I was taken unawares by a particularly funny turn of phrase. Really, by the time I read the fourth book you would think I knew better. Put down the coffee when reading Harlotry.

So excited. I was decimated earlier this summer when I was too preggers to travel to Portland or Vancouver to see her.

Hmmmm? What's that? Melodramatic? Me? I don't think so though Hubby is prone to mumbling about drama queens and martyrdom sometimes... But, I think he must just have a secret soap opera fetish.

And the last time she was in the Seattle area I don't think I had started knitting yet. For sure I had not yet discovered the knitting blogosphere.

I know. Can you imagine? A time before knitting blogs. Boggles the mind.

So this evening I will tuck Matthew into his carseat and pick up Jen & her little one and the two of us will bravely make our way to Third Place Books with a newborn and a toddler in tow (Hubby will be watching Gwen).

Hope to see you there!

Holding Pattern

I'm still here. The bun is still baking.

My frustration is getting to me. *sigh* I am chasing the carrot but someone keeps moving the stick. When we went to the hospital last weekend they told me to come back when my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and they were strong enough that I had to stop what I was doing until it was over. That occured last night so we went back. I had charted my contractions for 3 and a half hours before I decided to call Labor & Delivery. I gave them the run down and they told me to come on in. Hubby and I put Gwen to bed leaving one of my good friend's to hold down the fort and we hopped in the car. Neither of us had much hope that this trip would end with a baby but we had hit the milestone the hospital prescribed so we followed directions. End result of the trip: no baby. I am still 4 cm dilated but I am also now 50% effaced so that is some progress. They also "stripped my membranes" which isn't as bad as it sounds- it is a simple procedure that can release hormones to stimulate labor- we'll see if it has any effect, so far it has just made my contractions somewhat more painful. This time, when we left the hospital, they told us not to come back until I was having regular, close, white-knuckle contractions. So there you have it- the new carrot.

And in non-baby related news (yes! there is some!)

I finally finished the Knit Puffy for my Secret Pal:

Here it is in its natural habitat :) Pattern is from OneSkein. Knit per the instructions from Aloo yarn. I know I complained about knitting with the nettle yarn but in the end I was really pleeased with the results. I might even make another one. But not anytime soon. I sent the package off on Monday and my pal, AJ, received it yesterday. I really enjoyed Secret Pal 10 and will most likely do the next swap.

I have also been the lucky recipient of a couple of fun and fabulous packages in the last couple weeks.

First up, a prize from an SP10 group contest, courtesy of Robyn, my fantastic hostess!

This is a really cute cross-stitch kit. The balloon reads, "Who are these kids and why are they calling me mom?" For those of you who don't know, cross-stitch was my first needle art love so I am looking forward to tackling this project. Thank you Robyn :)

Next I received a treat from Sasha of free wool as a prize for a contest she ran:

All sorts of good things. Three vintage knitting pattern booklets (I swear I think my grandmother made me one of the sweaters in one of the books- it looks so familiar!), a Japanese booklet of little animals (the correct term escapes my brain at the moment and I am too lazy to look it up) to needle felt, recent copies of BabyBug (Pooh Bear loves this!), mothering, ReadyMade and Bust- all of which is really more inspiration than I can handle right now. My crafting/knitting to do list is multiple pages long and I know that my time will be limited to non-existent soon. The bag included some whistle candy and a Fran's Macadamia Gold bar which was waaaaaaaayyyyy too tasty. Last, but certainly not least, is a really neat skein of Noro Sakura which is a really unique yarn. Fabulous bright colorway and it periodically has these sections where the yarn is wrapped around the base in a way that totally reminds me of the friendship bracelets I used to make with my friends from embroidery thread back in the day -So fun! Thanks Sasha!

Lastly, a big hug and thank you to everyone for the kind words and good wishes you've sent my way as I have been making my way way through the slowest labor ever recorded, I really appreciate it... you guys are keeping me (somewhat) sane.

Next time: Baby Knits - the longer BtB stays in, the more I get done...so that is the bright side of this whole thing. BTW, generally a bad sign when the nurses at your doctor's office take a look at you and say, "Man, you are going to drop that baby any minute!"

The stash not flashed...

Well, I was going to snap some pictures of the yarn stash this evening after Pooh Bear went to bed but it isn't going to happen (sorry Robyn, I'm an SP10 Contest Slacker). Why not? Let's just say climbing up the two flights of stairs to my craft disaster room holds little to no appeal when your are sitting on your couch experiencing false (I hope) labor. Oh the joy! Oh the amusement! Oh wow, that hurt. Better now. Still not climbing any stairs until I have to...

I can tell you about my stash... A picture may be worth a thousand words but words, well, they are worth 1/1000 of a picture.

Seriously, my stash is not all that exciting even if it has enjoyed exponential growth since the beginning of the year. Kind of like my belly.... hmmm. Stash enhancement justification! Katie's First Law of Pregnant Yarn Acquisition: One's stash must grow in proportion to one's pregnant belly. Kind of like men gaining sympathetic pregnancy weight. Pregnant knitters of the world rejoice and unite! You really need that yarn. (I am nothing if not an enabler- don't say I never did anything for you) For those of you who aren't pregnant- sorry. But give me time, I'll be un-pregnant here shortly (please lord, let it be really shortly) and I'll have to come up with the Corollary for Non-Pregnant Stash Acquisition.

Actually, my stash is very easy to visualize: just imagine the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino, Baby Cashmerino, and Cashmerino Aran displays at your lys. Yes, the whole thing. Good. Now to that add the RYC Cashsoft display. Toss in a few skeins of Blue Sky Alpacas Hand Dyed Cotton and a few of their organic cotton skeins. Got it? Next add around 20 skeins of Rowan Handknit Cotton and 10-15 balls of various "kitchen" cottons. That's about it. Oh, well, you can toss in a dozen skeins of sock yarn: 3 STR, 1 Yarn Pirate, 1 Sea Wool, 5 Shibui, 2 Lorna's laces, 2 Claudia's Handpainted- ok, so that is more than a dozen, technically 14. That's really about it. I mean, I have other random stuff but really- lots and lots of Cashmerino and Cashsoft- I love the stuff.

OK, I need to dash, I have knitting to so and my post from earlier today did nothing to restore my mojo (I had kind of hoped whining would magically make knitting happen) so I need to get my fingers on the needles or the three pairs of booties I am imagining will remain a picture in Last Minute Knitted gifts and three skeins of baby cashmerino in my stash (off white, light blue and apple green in case you were wondering).

Ack! I've lost my mojo.

Yup, Austin Powers and I have that in common (I hope that is all that we have in common).

For a couple weeks there I was flying. The needles were flying and the yarn was sailing. And now? Um. Not quite a grinding halt but reeeeeeeaaaaaaaalllllllllyyyyyyyyy slow.

Let me pose this question to you: What takes longer, a baby blanket or a burp cloth. Well, duh. The burp cloth should be a breeze and the blanket will take longer. Unless you are me. Last week I cast on for a baby blanket on Tuesday night and wove in the ends on Saturday afternoon. That's right, less than 5 full days start to finish- awesome! On Sunday I knit a Bib O'Love. Fantastic! On Monday I cast on for the Baby Genius Burp cloth. Figured it would be done on Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest. Today is Friday. The burp cloth is incomplete. Really incomplete. Halfway done and that's it. I just cannot get going on it. I think about it when I sit down. I have it next to me on the couch. I pull it out of the bag and I think I knit but it doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

Here's the problem, or at least what I suspect is the problem. I have many little knits I want to make for my impending arrival. The burp cloth- not for #2. It is a gift for friends of ours who just had a baby. They live in Rochester, NY so I need to get it done so I can mail it, the bib, and a couple other things off. But I really want to work on things for my baby. And so, I procrastinate and I make no progress on anything while every day the clock ticks closer to my due date and piles of yarn languish, hoping that someday they will be adorable little booties.

I actually have one other project, the bath scrubby, that I need to finish and mail off. I'm about halfway done with that too and it is also more time consuming than I thought (how hard can a 29" tube of stockinette knit in the round be?).

Ugh. Just last week I felt like I could whip out anything in a miraculously short time frame and now I am lodged in a quagmire.

I'll post pictures of the baby blanket soon. I also need to Flash my Stash for SP10 before the end of today. But for now? Back to the grind. The booties may be singing my name like a siren but I will prevail (I hope).

Punctual?

Er, not so much. Although today is technically a tomorrow, just not the one I had in mind when I told you there would be finished object pictures "tomorrow." So sue me. You won't get much and you'll find my sock yarn stash underwhelming. It's hardly worth the effort.

But better late than never, eh?

These are my finished Baby Bottoms from Knitting Pure & Simple. The yarn in Rowan Handknit Cotton in Chime (3.5 skeins, I think). I knit these on the called for needle size of my Addi Turbos. My gauge is a bit big but babies grow so I wasn't stressing over it. The pattern has several options: elastic waist pants, Elastic waist pants with feet, footed overalls (high waisted), and the overalls without feet. These are obviously the high waisted overalls with feet. I think I will make another pair keeping the feet (fewer booties/socks to chase around) but trying the elastic waist. There is a matching cardigan pattern available for free on-line and I might have to add that to my ever-growing list of knits-to-do.

Here is a close up of the cute train buttons I found to complete the project.

My husband likes trains so I had him in mind when I was shopping, I guess.

In other knitting related news, I received my invitation to join Ravelry today. Yippee! I can't wait to get started although I fear this may cut into my already inadequate knitting/blogging/reading time.

Oh. Are you wondering what happened to the promised new WIP picture? No? I didn't really think so but I'll tell you anyway. It is now a FO. Pictures tomorrow. REALLY. I already took them. And uploaded them. No excuses. Tomorrow night...

The best laid plans

I had every intention of having a nice Finished Object post tonight but, I don't.

The Object is finished, I just didn't get around to taking a picture and now I am too lazy to go take one. I blame sun exposure. After all, we don't often have 85 degree days in May here in Seattle (everyone who lives here knows summer doesn't start until July 5th). My whole being is thrown off by the flaming orb in the sky.

I'll have it for you tomorrow. Maybe I'll even take a picture of my new WIP. It isn't anything exciting since it is my second time around with the pattern (Baby Bolero from OneSkein) but hey, it's knitting and this is a knitting blog :)

Which brings up an interesting conundrum: The more time I spend knitting, the less time I have to blog. So then I feel like I am neglecting something but it is a knitting blog (technically) and so there needs to knitting content so I need to knit... such a catch 22. Oh well. I'm trying to keep the knitting part of this blog pretty steady now since I pretty much know that once #2 is born this will probably become an "all baby all the time" forum- at least for a while. It seems to be a trend in the blogosphere. Consider yourself warned.

Off to work on the teeny bolero.

Raindrops on Roses and Ziplocs for Knittin'

As part of of Secret Pal 10 I am supposed to discuss my favorite knitting accessory but here's the rub: I don't think I have one. I've been thinking about it all day and the only accessories I use with any regularity are my row counter (or counters, I have one for each project), my point protectors, stitch markers, and ziploc bags. I can't say that I feel a particular affection for any of them... Well, that's not quite true, I do love my ziploc bags, they keep me neat and organized (at least close to organized). And I probably couldn't live without my row counters, given that I have to have one for each WIP and I get really anal about clicking them along... so I guess they are my favs.

But I do have a fantasy favorite accessory: a ball winder and swift. I daydream about having these two items, I ogle them online. *drool*

Oh and *double drool* a Namaste Needle Binder

Excuse me, I need to go get a towel...