Let's get to the short of it

In the midst of all the renovation going on, we made a quick trip over to eastern Idaho last weekend to see my sister's first baby be blessed in church. I made significant progress on these shorts for Frugalbaby and it took me over a week to knit the last inch and get them finished. The yarn is Kool-aid dyed by my friend Sarah and I received it in our recent Magic Yarn Ball swap. Heidi detailed the events over at her blog. If you scroll down to Tami's picture you'll see the yarn I did, which there are pictures of up on Flickr but I never got around to blogging it.

Busy hands

I've been busy, lookie, lookie!

I am so pleased with how these shoes turned out! They are actually getting swapped, though, to Stacy.


I made two versions of Katja.


The pattern is actually quite flawed, however. A quick search of a couple knitting forums has confirmed that everyone had the same problem. Basically the garter stitch at the top of the body gapes because of the nature of the stitch gauge. I compensated by weaving elastic through the stitches. There's a couple more pictures of both tanks on flickr. When Frugalbaby wears them, though, it's as a top layer over a shirt. I'm teaching modesty at a young age. No bare shoulders at the Frugal Farm!

I'm also attempting to get back into my household cleaning routine, and attacking little household projects one at a time. Monday I reorganized the laundry room cupboard and today I did some pantry organization. One of these days I might even get to the sewing table.

Finally! Off the Needles

I cast on Flirty Skirty so long ago I can't even remember. It was at least two weeks before we left on vacation. Then one afternoon, it was a Tuesday, I had walked the 1/4 mile to the corner to meet the kids' school bus. I brought my knitting with me to knit in the few spare minuted before the bus got there. When the bus pulled up, I carefully set my knitting in the back of the stroller. I didn't have point protectors on my needle tips. Should have, though. Frugalboy got off the bus, shoved his backpack down on top of my stuff, and started pushing the stroller home. Well, when I pulled my knitting out, at least 5 stitches had come off the needles and started unravelling. The lace pattern at the bottom is kind of complicated, with yarnovers and knit-2-togethers and I was very distraught. I didn't have time to sit and fix it for a couple days. I was able to fix all but one column, and on Friday morning I went to my LYS for some help. The lady was able to fix it, hurray! But I was like 4 days behind.

I planned out my trip knitting because I knew I'd have 60 hours in the car. I knew I wouldn't be able to knit the entire time, but honestly, I thought I'd get more done than I did. On the trip, I barely got halfway done with Flirty Skirty and I started a sock on the day I got to the part where I needed lots of light and no bumps to pick up waistband stitches. So even after all that driving time, I did 2 inches of sock ribbing and didn't even finish the project I took with me. Well, this morning I finally finished Flirty Skirty. It's drying now. I'm a little disappointed that it turned out so large. "Didn't you knit a swatch?" you ask. Why yes, I did. And if you measure my gauge on the finished project, it's right on. So it's just big. Whatever, she'll grow.







I took a skirt-knitting break for a couple days last week, though, and knit this up for Erika's baby shower. I love this yarn. It's TLC Cotton Plus. The drape of the fabric is so nice. It's a cotton blend. The burp cloth started as a bib, but I cast on more stitches than I wanted to, and I had recently checked out a book from the library with a blanket pattern that had hearts and stars, so I used the star chart to put the star in the middle. I think it turned out pretty good!




Today I cast on Katja in more Cotton Plus. It is already turning out to be a quick knit.

Pictures of the baby hat

Don't you love how most of my knitting pictures have my nice 1975 formica countertop as a background? Let me tell you, I loooooove this kitchen!



The whole gift. What new mom wouldn't appreciate handmade goodness?

Baby hat pattern

I made a hat for my sister's baby (the one who is also getting these shoes) and it knit up so quick, it may be my new "new baby" gift. I made up the pattern because I didn't feel like I had time to search the internet for exactly what I wanted. I had one pattern from a book so I cast on the same number of stitches and that's where it ended. I am sorry I haven't got a picture taken yet, but I'll get one soon.

Baby Hat

1 ball Laines du Nord Dolly Maxi yarn 100% superwash wool, 50g/95 yards (I used color 908, a denim blue color)
US 7 double point needles

Stitch note: 1x1 twisted rib is k1p1 ribbing, but knit each knit through the back loop and do the purls in the regular way

Cast on 64 stitches.

Work in 1x1 twisted rib for about an inch.

Work in St st until hat measures 5 inches from CO edge.

Work decreases as follows:
Round 1: (k6 k2tog) to end of round. 56 stitches
Round 2: k6 k2tog, (k5 k2tog) to end of round. The last stitch will use the first stitch from the beginning of the round. This is ok. 48 stitches
Round 3: k5 k2tog, (k4 k2tog) to end. 40 stitches
Round 4: k4 k2tog, (k3 k2tog) to end. 32 stitches
Round 5: k3 k2tog, (k2 k2tog) to end. 24 stitches
Round 6: k2 k2tog, (k1 k2 tog) to end. 16 stitches
Round 7: k1 k2tog, k2tog to end. 8 stitches
Round 8: k2tog all around, put all stitches on one dpn. 4 stitches

Work a 4-stitch i-cord for 2-3 inches. Break yarn and thread through all 4 stitches twice, pull tight, and thread tail down through the i-cord. Tie the i-cord in a little knot. Weave in any ends remaining.

Men's Hat Pattern

Frugaldad does not have a small head, and he has a lot of hair, so if your man has a small noggin, this will be loose or else you should cast on fewer stitches.


Men's Hat Pattern

Almost 100 g worsted weight yarn (I used Paton's Classic Merino 223 yards/100g skein in Deep Olive)
size 7 16" circular needle and double points or size to make gauge
8 stitch markers

gauge: nearly 6 st/inch knit in St st in the round


Cast on 120 stitches. Join round and place marker to mark start of round. Work in k2p2 ribbing for 4 inches.

Work in St st until work measures 8 inches from CO edge. (K13 k2tog Place Marker) until end of round.

Knit one round.

Repeat decrease round by knitting each stitch until 2 stitches remain before marker, then k2tog.

Knit one round between each decrease round. Switch to dpns when too few stitches remain for circular.

When 8 stitches remain, break yarn, remove markers and thread tail through last 8 stitches. Pull tight and weave in ends.

Contrary to popular belief

I have not been buried in a snowdrift or fallen in a deep well. I am, however, finally recovered from the virus that would not die.

Tonight I took some pictures but they are not uploaded yet, so stay tuned. I finished the hat I was working on and since I made up the pattern, I'll post it and pictures soon too.

100th post!

This is my 100th post! I couldn't think of anything clever to write about, though, so you'll have to settle for pictures of what kept me busy this morning. My sister found out that she is expecting a baby boy so this cute pair of shoes is for her upcoming bundle.

Made from the free pattern by Heather Bailey.

I finished my 2nd Chemo Cap. This one is the Irish Hiking Hat from Nik's Knits. It's Red Heart Soft Yarn, which has a really nice sheen to it.

I committed to making 3 hats and the third one is on my needles, and I expect to make significant progress as I sit in the school parking lot for 20 minutes waiting in line to pick up my children, so that Frugalboy can be on time for Cub Scouts (versus being late and riding the bus). My knitting time usually consists of a stitch here, or a row there, so 20 uninterrupted minutes? Blissful. At any rate, I forgot to take a picture of the first hat before I handed it off to Heidi, who is organizing our charity knitting.

We expect that Frugalbaby and Tawny, the Frugaldog, will be fast friends their entire lives.

messy sewing table

messy sewing table
Originally uploaded by frugalmom.

This is what happens when you have too many hobbies and too little time.


and look, I finally got me a flickr account! So long super-slow-to-upload-pictures-to-blogger!

Off the needles

I stayed up an extra half-hour last night to finish these socks. I meant them for Frugaldad but since the pattern was "one-size", they are too small in diameter and I know that I'll need to cast on more stitches for him. So these went to the Frugalboy. I knew they were too small before I even finished the first one so I knit them to his foot length. They are knit in Wool-ease, just like the pattern calls for. But I wouldn't recommend this pattern. It has mistakes and parts that are very unclear. But I managed to knit the socks up without any mistakes. They look great and Frugalboy wore them to school today.

A Good Investment at $5.99

If you want to buy a hand-knit soaker online you can expect to pay at least $40 or even more. So the $8 I spent on the yarn plus a few hours of my time seems like a pretty good deal. Until the soaker starts looking like this, and it doesn't look like it's worth anything at all.

The fabric starts to get fuzzy and pill and doesn't look so great. So I trekked into Target and bought a battery-operated sweater shaver for 5.99 and put it to work on the soaker. Now it looks like new!

And here is the fuzz that came out of the lint trap of the shaver.


It was definitely worth the money. I also shaved the striped Curly Purly. It also looks great.

Oh my heck

I have to post something just to get my whiny birthday post from getting top real estate!

Random events from the past few days...

Frugalbaby weighs 24.4 lbs and is sticking consistently to the 50- 75%ile growth curves.

I knitted up this sweet little soaker in an hour the other night. It's already being put to good use. On my keychain!

The Frugalboy got to spend his first day at the Challenge Center, which is our school district's gifted and talented program.

I got a new vacuum. It really sucks.

Christmas Nirvana

For the third year in a row, I have achieved what I like to call Christmas Nirvana. This is what happens when you thoughtfully choose your childrens' gifts, and don't give too few or too many.

There is a fine line when it comes to how many. Too few, and they won't have enough to keep them busy. Too many, and they think they got short-changed because they started feeling entitled to lots of gifts. Plus, they get overwhelmed and don't know what to play with first.

I am afraid that I have reached the turning point with the Frugalboy, though. He's getting old enough that his gifts aren't just toys. They are things like fishing poles and tool boxes so he doesn't have as many things to "play" with on Christmas morning. He's complaining of boredom already, and wants to go shopping to spend the rest of the money from his grandparents.

The girls are completely content playing with their dolls and dress-ups. I carefully gave them complementary gifts so they could play together.

But the days are long and rainy and there's only so long until they get bored.

There's only 6 more days until they go back to school. Not that I'm counting. What I am counting the minutes to is Saturday, when I get to go out without any children and sit and knit and chat with the ladies in my cloth diapering group. Saturday. At 11:00. Did I mention that the kids are staying home?

On the knitting front, on the needles right now I have a Lilac Perdita for my sister's birthday. With cream crochet cotton like in the picture. On another set of needles I have some corn that I gave up on for a Christmas gift because I wasn't getting it done fast enough. I hope to get the bracelet done soon, because her birthday is January 5, and start on some longies for Frugalbaby in the softest merino I've ever felt!

Teeny Tiny Bag

Frugalbaby loves to carry around my almost-a-Booga Bag. But she is too short to keep it from dragging on the ground. With the yarn I had leftover, I knit her a tiny replica. (I did the handles differently from the pattern by doing a 3-stitch i-cord instead, and didn't do the flap.) The colors, of course, turned out completely different and I am jealous, because I would love it if my bag looked like this too. I used every last bit of yarn, so there's some frugal knitting for you. Pictures are pre-felting, during blocking (sucker for size comparison), alone after blocking, and with the original bag.



And for my knitting friends who read this--the bag is in stockinette stitch but is bound off with a k2tog bind-off (instructions are in the pattern). The edge doesn't roll at all now that the bag is felted. And the bind-off was really easy, too. (My knitting reference book describes the k2tog bind-off differently but I followed the pattern instructions). My Sophie bag that is done with a basic bind-off still rolls a little, but I did a crocheted bind-off on the second Sophie that I did and it didn't roll as badly. This bind-off is the best so far. The big bag above didn't roll because I did over an inch of seed stitch at the top.

Ruffles

I finished a soaker over the weekend. It's a Curly Purly soaker and I did those fancy leg ruffles to make it look really girly. It's the Kool-aid dyed Wool of the Andes that I did back here. (though I had intended it as just waistband and cuff yarn, I learned that one skein was enough for an entire soaker).


I've also been sewing. Pictures to come when I finish.

Edited to add: this was a gift, so I have yet to see it modeled on a baby. I couldn't mention that it was a gift until it was given. Maybe Heidi will post pictures sometime next summer when this soaker fits her upcoming arrival.

Almost a Booga Bag

This bag was knit from this yarn.

It's almost a Booga Bag but I cast on a few more stitches, and did some seed stitch at the top to keep it from rolling.

Off the needles

This has got to be one of my fastest projects ever. I cast on the evening of Sunday the 5th and I was finished with the body of the soaker by the night of Wednesday the 8th. Then it took me forever to get the leg cuffs done because I had some time to work on it and forgot to take two of my dpns with me and then life got crazy. I finished yesterday (Sunday the 12th) so that was only a week total time. Not bad, not bad. It's the Punk Knitters soaker in a size large, knit in Plymouth Outback wool. It took less than 100g to do. I am still knitting the i-cord drawstring but she doesn't actually need it. The ribbing is snug on her belly, but I did the eyelet row so I'll put the drawstring in for looks.

I am not actually that excited about how the colors pooled up. I wish the vertical stripes weren't there. But oh well. The wool is nice and soft and I think I will like this soaker.

I think I have decided against a couple of hand-knits for Christmas presents, but I still need to do some, plus get some longies done.

Knitalong

One of my knitting/cloth diapering friends suggested we do another knitalong and she even made flip books for the pattern so we wouldn't get lost. It's the Lily of the Valley pattern from Perdita. (Click on the picture so you can see the detail in the lace--I still can't believe it's just knit on straight needles) It was fun to do something different, with beading even, even though I don't know who I'll give it to.
On the needles now is the Punk Knitters Soaker in Plymouth Outback wool. It's going pretty fast; I am more than halfway done.

Curly Purly

It's done! The Curly Purly soaker in Kool-aid dyed Wool of the Andes. Still needs to be lanolized. (front and back pictures)

Fruit Loops

My friend Tami helped me name this yarn as we wound it at the park today. I posted a pic yesterday of the hanks, and it is even prettier as a skein, don't you think? And the balls are even prettier!