Four year olds need flash

November 16, 2009 at 11:14 am | In FO, Ladybug, WIP, knitting | 2 Comments

Yes, it is done. Yes, the princess has deigned to wear it!

She is her own stylist – just look at her accessorizing skills!

Pattern: Emma Peel from Mason-Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines
Yarn: Classic Elite Pebbles, 2ish balls of the red and 3ish balls of the green
Needles: US 4 Harmony circs
Started: September 19, 2009
Finished: November 7, 2009
Mods: The most obvious is that I added the beads around the neckline. Less obvious is that I didn’t knit the neck edging exactly as instructed – I was worried that the neck opening would be too tight so I eliminated a row or two.

I know the beads are the antitheses of what the pattern is all about – the transition from princess to sleek and modern school girls – but I had to give her the little bit of bling. (I just really didn’t want her to never wear it. I guess I’m weak that way.)

My final thoughts on the pattern are that if I were to knit it again, I’d knit it longer. This is the 6 year old size, and it’s almost too short already. The armholes could probably have used another row or two added to them as well. But all in all I’m very happy with the dress; tonight I’ll see how it’s held up to a day at preschool!

So what’s on the needles now? What decision did I make?

I can’t believe how busy I am!

October 28, 2009 at 10:27 am | In WIP, knitting | 2 Comments
Tags: emma peel

Having a job is awesome, but I can’t hardly find time to blog. Luckily, I have found time to knit – not much, mind you – and just now found time to take some pictures.

I’m still cranking away on Ladybug’s Emma Peel.

I didn’t say they were good pictures.

I’ve finished the front. My Ladybug wouldn’t be herself without requesting some bling.

In fact, I’ve even started to seam the sides together! (I love embroidery floss for seaming!)

However, I’ve been way too busy to rake the leaves.

It’s getting close to time for me to decide what to knit next. My choices are a hat, armwarmers, or armwarmers. Any opinions?

No socks or dishcloths around these parts

September 29, 2009 at 12:21 pm | In WIP, knitting | 1 Comment

I am taking a leap of faith. Jumping into the abyss.

I am knitting a dress for Ladybug.

She who will not wear the sweater I made for her over a year ago. At least this time I’m using one of her favorite colors.

Close up (and a little more pinkish than in real life):

It’s not the most fun knit ever, but it does look rather pretty, doesn’t it? The yarn – Classic Elite Pebbles – is a real trip. You can see how textured it is in the close up picture. It’s not hard to knit with, just don’t expect to be able to see your decreases or any stitch definition with it.

I may have to come up with some ornamentation or embroidery or something to princessify it if Ladybug won’t wear it. Silly girl sold her soul to Walt Disney and his princesses.

While Waiting

March 13, 2009 at 1:37 pm | In Socks, WIP, knitting, me | 4 Comments

My mittens are done! However, they’re still wet – 24 hours after I washed them. I was hoping to take pictures and do the FO post today.

So instead, I started a sock. Technically, it’s the second sock of a pair, but, well, these socks are going to coordinate instead of match.

I’m using this:

That goes with this:

And making this. (No pictures yet, it’s just a cuff at the moment.)

Of course, the big news for today is that it’s the last day of my employment with my current company. I did support work for Circuit City, and in case you hadn’t heard, they went bankrupt. I stayed on and helped close down my stores, but now my company doesn’t need me. I’m lucky; I get a severance package and with the COBRA subsidy we can at least consider affording it. I’ve got a good job prospect IF they decide they’re going to fill the position (grr, government jobs with their waffling on whether or not it’s a total hiring freeze or if they can give the go ahead they already gave.)

So don’t cry for me yet. I’m choosing to be somewhat optimistic – there’s lots of time to knit and fill out applications during the day.

Talking about cables and Contest Winner!

February 12, 2009 at 12:44 pm | In WIP, knitting | 2 Comments
Tags: contest

Is it common, when a cable is traversing a reverse stockinette background, to work the cable all in knits?

That’s what the instructions for the Chevalier mittens say to do, but it leaves a weird little almost hole looking place right above the cable, where I can tell it should have been purled instead of knit.

But in the good news category, I’ve learned how to cable without a cable needle. My right leaning cables at the beginning are full of Holy Wonky Stitches Batman! moments, but I learned to tighten up the float and now they’re much better.

So, I didn’t realize it was Thursday until just a moment ago. There were 29 comments (deleting the pingback that I never deleted, but didn’t count) and random.org generated a number for me: 1. (Can you believe it? I thought random number generators never generated #1. I checked to make sure I was doing it right, though.) That means our winner is….

Lisa!

Congratulations, and thank you all for entering. I hope everyone comes back to visit now and then!

Goals for 2009

January 12, 2009 at 9:38 am | In WIP, knitting, me | 2 Comments
Tags: boheme, sweater

I don’t do resolutions, but I’ll do some goals – knitting and otherwise.

Knit a top down raglan
Fix my Pomatomusii
Get a full night’s sleep; or at least sleep for 6 hours in a row
Ride my new exercise bike for at least 10 minutes per week
Get a new job

Fairly simple. I’ve already started the raglan and it’s going well. See?

I’m at the part just before I get rid of the sleeve stitches. These are the longest two rows in the whole thing!

Chubby baby with Bum Ruffle

December 3, 2008 at 12:05 pm | In WIP, knitting | 1 Comment
Tags: soaker

The soaker is almost done!

She’s modeling it over a regular disposable. It’s clearly going to be too small sooner than I had hoped.

I know the ruffle is what everyone wants to see! I’m pretty happy with the placement.

The cuff reknit is almost complete. Going up 2 needle sizes helped a ton; the bind-off is now the only part that’s too tight. I’ll probably just use the Russian Bind-Off like I do for Toe-up socks (and like I used for the waist band of the Baby Bells.)

Does any one know of a good online resource for learning to embroider? I did google it a bit, but I didn’t get any really good hits. (I think my google-fu is down today.)

ETA: Ever wonder if the Russian Bind-Off really is stretchier than a standard bind off? Well, it certainly uses more yarn! I had to do a combination of Russian and standard BO, or else I wouldn’t have enough yarn!

Kinky and Sticky

December 2, 2008 at 4:18 pm | In WIP, knitting | 1 Comment
Tags: soaker

Knitting with yarn that has been knit, washed, lanolized, dried, and has sat for a couple weeks before being frogged is quite an adventure.

Yes, I just reknit the soaker cuffs, but I’m not weaving in any ends until I know that they fit!

Also, howdy to everyone making their way here via Mason Dixon Knitting. I’ve been watching my blog stats page with amusement — I wonder how high my blog-views will go?

Bleh

November 24, 2008 at 4:06 pm | In WIP, knitting | 2 Comments

Pardon me for being a bit of a grumpster today; I just found out where I have to be for Black Friday, and it’s 4 hours away and I have to be there at 4am. Sleep? What’s that?

Another grump inducing bit of business is this cute little bit of knitting.

What could be wrong with it? Pigeon has chubby thighs, that’s what! The rolled cuffs are too tight. I am so not in the mood to frog, but I will certainly have time on Friday while I sit on my duff for 3 hours 4 hours away from home.

But then again, this part makes me happy.

I used a ruffle formula that someone posted in a Rav thread – fairly simple multiple of 4 +3 stitches. Start with *K3 P1* across and end with a K3. Turn, *P3 M1 K1 M1* P3. Keep adding stitches on the increase rows and on the plain rows knit stitches as they present themselves. I liked it better than the generic “increase every stitch” ruffle.

So, anyone know of a place that sells good coffee by the pony keg?

ILAC Report!

November 12, 2008 at 4:49 pm | In WIP, knitting | 3 Comments

I have stepped outside my comfort zone!

Unfortunately, today ended up not being the best day for ILAC day – what started out as an easy, stress-free work day ended up being a very irritating, no progress kind of day. I even missed a pumping session! That being said, I did leave a fair number of comments, but I used my Get Out Of Commenting card a few too many times (maybe 5?). I just couldn’t think of anything to say.

Moving on to the knitting:

My First Soaker is almost complete.

Sorry, the picture is a trifle blurry, but pretty true to color. I finally decided, with the help of some folks on Ravelry, to add some leg cuffs. Now I need to decide if I want ruffles, ribs, or rolls. The girly in me wants ruffles; I just don’t know if it will work well in this highly variegated yarn. Opinions?