Where has the time gone?

It has been over a year since I have posted here. I will try to remedy that in the next few days.

Who thought it would snow?

Certainly not this hummingbird! 

Spent the Memorial Day holiday weekend in Colorado, where the weather was a bit colder than Missouri. 

Only 4 weeks old and can already spell his name!

As soon as George's name was on his birth certificate, I began knitting a set of alphabet blocks with his name on them.  I organized the blocks with his first name in blue letters, middle name in green letters, and last name in red letters, with letters on the other sides in yellow, orange and purple.  They were knit out of I Love This Cotton from Hobby Lobby, and I cut 3' foam cubes to fill them.  I think if I did another set for another baby (no time soon, though!) I would probably try to find some acrylic yarn in those colors but lighter weight (DK/sport weight rather than worsted) so that they would be smaller.

Yoda?

The week before George arrived, Kyle asked if I could knit him a Yoda hat.  So I jumped right on the request, and here is the dapper young man (at 19 days of age) sporting the latest in headwear.

Kyle says that he and George are now set for Halloween.  In the second Star Wars movie, Luke Skywalker straps Yoda to his back to do Jedi training.  So Kyle is Luke and George is Yoda.  I am sure his head will have grown enough that I will have to  knit another one for him in a larger size, but I will be glad to do it!

Prince George Bybee has arrived!

Hilary gave birth on Saturday, March 14, to her and Kyle's first child, George Neal Bybee. He weighed in at 7 pounds 5 ounces, and was 19.5 inches long.  John and I were there Saturday evening and Sunday to greet him.

My brother, the math guy, was particularly excited to have a "pi baby" in the family.  For those of the mathematically challenged, when you compute the value of pi to 4 decimal places, you get 3.1415  (3/14/15 being George's birthdate.)

Busy knitting for babies

I thought, when I finished my third baby set (blanket, sweater, booties, hat, scratch mitts) since the new year began and completed 6 baby blankets with yarn that a friend from Jeff City knitting group gave me to make and donate, that maybe I could move on to other knitting for a while.  But not so ..  Liz's brother and his wife are expecting a baby in April, so she asked me to make them a set.  So it's back to baby items.  But our son-in-law Kyle requested a "baby Yoda" hat for their little guy, due March 21.  It was so cute I jumped right in, and made it in 2 sizes, newborn and 6 month.  Can't wait to see him in them!

 Here are all the blankets made from the yarn Carolyn gave me, all washed and ready to donate.  Thanks Carolyn

I can crochet!

I finally decided that crochet is a skill that all knitters should have, and I gave it a try.  YouTube has been a wonderful resource.  The problem with it, as with most things on the web, is weeding through all the crap to get to the really valuable information.  I have learned three stitches:  single crochet, double crochet, and half double crochet.  I can reproduce these at will, but have not learned how to integrate them into a pattern or alternate them in a row of crochet.  Right now, all my crochet projects are rectangles!  I hope soon to be able to read a pattern and make something besides squares, but at least I can pick up a hook and make a credible item.

The picture below are my two most presentable squares, alternating rows of sc, dc, and hdc.  The towel is the Retro Rib kitchen towel.  All of these are in I Love This Cotton from Hobby Lobby.  I think it is the best cotton yarn available from any box store.

More doilies -- I keep cranking them out!

I decided to try a doily in Number 3 crochet thread (equivalent to fingering weight yarn) to see how many rounds would create what size doily.  This is the Sternbluten pattern, available on Ravelry.  It is 90 rows deep, and measures 25" across.  So, by my calculations, I will have to find a pattern of about 300 rows to make a tablecloth for my 60" dining room table to have some overhang.  And I will have to put some extra lengths on my interchangable needles!

It is photographed on my stovetop.  Not the most pleasant backdrop, but the best I could do at 11 p.m.

Glad when someone appreciates handmade gifts

I made this jumper for my friend Kim's little girl Maddie for her 5th birthday.  She's the princess of Disney (her mama being the queen and grandma the queen mother of Disney!) so giving her Eeyore only made sense.  We met them for dinner last night, and when Maddie took the jumper out of the bag, she was so excited she asked if she could wear it to school tomorrow.  Then she reconsidered and asked if she could wear it then.  So we pulled it on over her clothes, and she walked around the restaurant modeling it for the other diners!  She's a dear child, and it is so lovely to have someone excited about my handmade presents.

Preparing for the arrival of Baby Boy Bybee

Or as John likes to call him, Arlo.  I hope that Hilary and Kyle like the outfit.  And if not, I hope they are brave enough to say so, and I will donate it to the pregnancy crisis center.

This sweater design is very popular for newborns, hence its name, Puerperium (newborn)
I think the duck buttons are the perfect finishing touch!

Baby blankets .. and more baby blankets

Our oldest daughter Hilary and her husband Kyle have announced that they will be adding a baby boy to our family in March.  This has me in the baby blanket mode, and I have done 3 patterns that are all different from each other and from the normal baby blanket.  None of these are blocked yet because the youngest daughter has not returned my steamer that she borrowed to steam out the wrinkles from her wedding dress.

The pinwheel blanket measures over a yard across, and was knit from 3 skeins of Caron Simply Soft.

The center-out blanket is done with a skein of Pound of Love.  It was the closest to a non-traditional baby color that I could find.  It measures 26" across. (I am not sure what the "best" size is for a baby blanket, so I'm making them how I like.)

The eyelet blanket was done in baby yarn from Big Lots, and $2.50 for 2 skeins, which I did not use all of to make this 24" blanket .  I am told that the yarn that is sold at Big Lots is name-brand manufacturer yarn that Big Lots buys from the manufacturer and re-labels, since they are not allowed to sell it under the manufacturer name.  Whatever the deal, this is the softest baby yarn I have used in a while.  It reminds me of Plymouth, which I used to make a baby sweater for my friend Kim's Madison when she arrived 4 years ago, and I loved the stuff.

Knits for (f)all seasons

I saw the pattern for these cute pumpkins and had to try it.  They were like Lay's potato chips:  I just couldn't stop at one.  The skein of Caron Simply Soft that I had in Mango made 8 of them, so I gave away several.  Then I realized I had some knitted and crocheted pine cones (thanks, Covered in Prayer crocheters) and some knitted leaves, so I put together a centerpiece with all my fall fiber, and added some cinnamon-scented pine cones.

Thanks for the encouragement, knitting group

Although I miss my every Wednesday knitting in Cheyenne, (Cindy, are you there?) I have enjoyed being back to my monthly group in Jeff City.  They have been very encouraging to me in the past few months, and the camaraderie is wonderful.  One of the projects I had started last month was my pink socks.  It is simply a twisted rib stitch, and I used the sock generator guidelines from Liat Gat, toe-up-2-at-a-time.  They are really leg-hugging, so I didn't worry about much of a cuff.   Since the yarn was Lion Brand Sock-Ease, where the label says "one ball makes a pair," I took them at their word and knitted until I ran out.  Less than a yard left from a 438-yard ball.  That's the beauty of toe-up, you just knit till you run out.  Many of the gals were interested in how the stitch worked, so here's pics:

Quick mindless knits

I have been doing some quick mindless knits while I await the word on whether the upcoming grandchild is a boy or girl so that I know what baby knits I am starting (maybe we will find out this week).  So I found this bag, adapted from a quilting pattern, adapted from origami box folding.  It is a stockinette (or garter, but I like stockinette) rectangle, 3:1 ratio.  It is then folded to form this shape.

My rectangle was 13" x 39" (the bottom is 17") and was knit from a couple of balls of Berroco Comfort that I had lying around.  Once it was folded, I didn't like the stockinette roll, so I picked up stitches and did an I-cord bind-off, and continued the bind-off into a standard I-cord for the strap.

The website for this bag is http://www.toltyarnandwool.com/blogs/blog/15166929-tolt-folded-bag-with-veronika  I seem to be doing fairly well, as it was posted to Knitting Paradise on August 31 and it is finished on September 2!

Gerry, when you go to the website for this, she has links to a quilter with a bag like this.  You quilters have all the best ideas!

Finally got up the nerve ....

to knit garments for myself.  I am never happy with the fit after I make them, and wish I had spent the time on something else.  But this time, I took advantage of some good hints: 1-Find a garment that fits you well, and use those measurements. 2-Get yarn that suits your pattern. 3-Get a pattern that is well-written.  Using those hints, these are what I came up with

Picked up the yarn at Hobby Lobby on clearance for $1.97/skein -- I love a deal on I Love This Cotton ;-)  So the sweater cost me $6 (the buttons may cost more than the yarn!).  The pattern is Sleeveless Pullover from the LeisureArtslibrary.com website.  I got the yarn because it matched the skirt I had bought in June, but had nothing but white tops to wear it with.

Linum Tee

Got the most wonderful Rowan Lenpur Linen DK weight yarn, and looked for just the right pattern.  Finally found it in the Knitscene Summer 2014 magazine.  Now I'm all set for Tiger games --MIZ-ZOU!

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming

The wedding is over, and now things can return to normal, if there is such a thing!  The weather was temperate for August 2 in Kansas City (mid 80s), the venue looked beautiful, the truffles were a big hit, and as for the bridal couple, judge for yourself:

 

John and the girls

Taking a break from setting up the reception

And now, I can return to knitting and spinning, which have taken a back seat to wedding preparations.

 

Still more doilies

I love these things!  I am mastering the crochet chain edging, too!  This doily is Egeblad, knit in DMC Baroque crochet cotton on 00 needles.

I have picked another doily pattern so that I always have one on needles, because I enjoy them so much.

A new love -- knit doilies

Just finished and blocked my first knit doily, the Swirl Leaf doily.  It's been knit for quite some time, but I never sat down with a teeny-tiny crochet hook to crochet the picot edging.  Finally bit the bullet, and other than being time consuming (88 loops of 7-stitch chains) it wasn't that bad.  I have all my grandmother's teeny-tiny crochet hooks, that I thought I would never use when I got them but just wanted them for the sentiment, but they came in handy.

Knit with Aunt Lydia's Crochet 10 thread, using a 00 needle.  The instructions called for DPN, but there was no way I was doing that, so I just used the Turkish cast-on and went to town.  It measures 13" across.  While I was knitting, I kept saying, "My fingertips hurt so bad from pushing stitches off those very pointy needles.  Never again."  But apparently not, because I have the Egeblad doily on needles, and am on my way.

Amazing what $6 in fiber will get you!

On my last trip to the Brown Sheep factory, I got almost a pound of 85% wool, 15% mohair roving to spin up.  My latest post was to show the fingering weight I spun up with most of the fiber.  Last night I spun up the rest of the pink.  The fiber was $6.50 per pound, so I guess I spent about $6, and here's what I turned my investment into:

 
The chunky turned out to be 116 yards of a chunky yarn.  Just right, I think, for a nice warm hat, maybe with cables..... hmmmm

I am searching Ravelry for "rose" or "pink" in shawl names, to pick out a pattern for the fingering weight.  So far the finalists are: Rose Fragrance (calls for laceweight), In the Pink (calls for fingering), Campanula in Pink (calls for DK) and Rose Garden Shawl (calls for DK).  Obviously there will be some swatching happening before a final decision is made.  The construction of In the Pink fascinates me, so it is the heavy favorite right now.

Spinning -- it's not just for health clubs anymore!

I have been bitten by the spinning bug in the last couple of weeks.  I obtained some roving (wool/mohair blend) from Brown Sheep factory, put on my lace flyer, and went to town.  About 8 or 9 ounces of fiber turned into about 640 yards of laceweight or light fingering yarn.  I can't wait to decide on a shawl for this fiber.  I still have about 5 or 6 ounces of this left, so I will probably spin that to a worsted weight for a cowl.

(When snow is all you have for an outdoors backdrop for your picture, that's what you use.  It snowed a foot in Cheyenne Sunday and Monday, and a foot at our house in Fairplay Colorado during the same time period.)

I also picked up at Cowgirl Yarns, my favorite Wyoming LYS, 3 ounces of llama fiber, locally produced in Laramie.  I sat down and spun it Thursday evening, then plied it Monday night while watching "24 - Live Another Day."  (Great show, BTW.  It was a stroke of genius to let it sit for a few years.)  Anyway, here's what became of the 3 ounces of fiber.  It took a while to spin, because I had to stop and remove vegetable matter quite often.

 I tried to spin and ply this a little more loosely than I tend to normally, because it is such a fuzzy fiber that I don't want to lose that property.

I haven't yet decided what it wants to be.  Since there are only 200 yards of it in fingering weight, it probably will become some sort of scarf or cowl.

  
Stay tuned for my next spinning adventure -- superwash yarn to spin to fingering weight for socks.  Wish me luck!