Dishcloth Dish

So, as previously mentioned, I kind of thought I'd spend a good part of my summer knitting up dishcloths to use as stocking stuffers and hostess gifts over the holidays. Of course, I ended up making about five (three of which have already been given away) and then decided that pregnancy granted me the right to do absolutely nothing over the summer. Well, with holiday party invites already trickling in (I know, really), I've decided that I have to finish at least three dishrags between any other project I start. And guess what? I've actually whipped off a few!

This time around I did another good old Grandmother's Favourite (all of these patterns, by the way, are taken from the Dishcloth Boutique, which I would highly recommend to anyone), which I won't go into detail about, since it's a classic pattern and I think I've already talked about it. But I did print off a bunch of other fun looking patterns to alleviate any potential Granny boredom.


Above is a little stitch pattern called Garter Lace, which I have to say, was a bit of a pain to knit with my sticky wooden needles and that stiff kitchen cotton. But I think it turned out pretty cute. And I must say, I kind of dig these Sugar N' Cream variegation colourways -- they're garish enough that I'd never use them for anything other than a rag, but they're also kind of bold and sassy.


And lastly, a cute little slipstich pattern called Chinese Waves, which was really fun to knit. I'm going to add all of these to the pile so I have a little pantry to dig into when I need something. I have another couple months to go (for the stocking stuffers at least), so I think I can actually make a substantial stock. I just love using my own knit cloths so much (I use them in the shower though -- at the dish sink we're sponge people), I want to share the joy.

Breathe, Remember To Breathe

It's been a bit of a tough go in these parts over the last couple of weeks. Between ultrasounds, funerals, potty accidents, news of illness among family members, taking on too much work, gardens to put down for the winter, trips to plan and that damn Halloween costume to finish, I'm spent. Aaron and Ruby very graciously spent much of the weekend out of the house (that Aaron is good for a long father/daughter bike ride by the river when I need some solitude), so I decided to work on something that would take my mind off all that other stuff.

I started in on Veronik Avery's Short-Row Hat, which is an Interweave web pattern that I think came out a couple of years ago (if there was a huge blogger frenzy over this one, I would have missed it, since I would have been having Ruby around the time of its release). This sucker really requires the aforementioned solitude -- I initially cast on during Wednesday's episode of America's Next Top Model. Big mistake. In fact, I cast on for this thing no fewer than four times before finally getting the hang of it. Even then, I made a few flubs, but I think I was able to fudge it well enough that it didn't throw the pattern off too much. I'll talk more about the pattern when I finish it, which could be years from now, seeing as I'll need at least another hour or two of responsibility-free solitude to get it done.


In other news, check out the doll that Leena brought Ruby back from NYC. I forget the series' name (Ruby tore the tag off faster than you would believe), but she's made by Corolle. We call her Susan. I love her.

Hats Off

First off, a belated Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadians out there. We had a lovely holiday. On Sunday about 20 members of my family participated in a 5K fun walk in memory of my Grandpa, who died about 10 years ago after a struggle with Alzheimer's. Then we dined on turkey and watched Ruby play with all of her cousins, which was really sweet. It was a good one.

Onto the hats. Thanks for your words of encouragement -- last week I managed to crank out two little hats, just in time for autumn to really hit. I did manage to finish my baby gift hat for my cousin's new guy, though not until the period between the fun walk and Thanksgiving dinner when Aaron and I brought Ruby home for her nap. Talk about down to the wire. That hat was just like the one you see Ruby wearing above, but it was pure orange and must smaller. There was no time to take pictures, but I'm sure you don't really need to see it to imagine a plain orange baby hat.

On her part, Ruby loves her hat, which is always a relief. The pattern is just the simple baby hat recipe from Susan B. Anderson's Itty Bitty Hats, knit up in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in the Child's Play colourway. I really didn't expect it to stripe like this -- I guess whenever you use LL, it's anyone's guess as to how it's going to pool. The finished result is a little too wavy gravy for my own personal taste, but it's warm and that's what really matters. Now Ruby's begging for a pair of matching mittens, which I suppose I'll get to soon. If I ever finish her Halloween costume, which is beginning to stress me out. Ack!

Shake It Up Baby

So, I've been feeling a little bit guilty about not knitting a baby gift for my cousin's new baby who was born in August. I'm especially feeling bad about it because it's her third kid and the third kid just seems to get so neglected when it comes to gifts, you know? But, time has been scarce and projects have been piling up, so six weeks have gone by and no gift. Bad cousin.

After finishing the Spherey for my friend's upcoming little dude/dudette, I decided to try Jess Hutch's Odd Fellow for my cousin's guy, since it was small (i.e. fast) and I'd never made one before. The problem was, once I started knitting him, I realized Odd Fellow is really really small, and hence not that fun to play with. So, I decided to stick a couple of jingle bells in him, omit the arms and legs (which were just too small and fiddly -- eight stitches on DPNs? No thanks) and voila! Baby shaker!

Because he's so tiny, I feel obligated to make a hat too. Can I finish that hat, and the hat for Ruby I have on the needles before I see the baby on Thanksgiving? Can I?

Autumn Harvest

I had foolishly thought that I'd missed out on the year's thrifting, since I spent the whole summer unable to lift myself off the couch. How very very wrong of me. At the very last minute I found out about a huge (and apparently, very well known) rummage sale at a close-by community centre and trucked down there with Aaron, Ruby, Aaron's sister Daniella and her girlfriend Erin (who were both visiting from Vancouver). Holy crap, we scored. Everyone (except the very patient Daniella, who was horrified by the crowds, but stuck in there without complaining because of her love for Erin, who is a compulsive thrifter) walked out with gobs of stuff, even though we had to fight hoards of other thrifty types to get it.



I won't post pictures of everything I got, but I scored big at the art table (the woman working there didn't want to pack anything up, so by the end of it she was just shoving stuff into a bag for me without charge), with finds that included the little praying children carvings above. On the practical side, a really kicky steamer pot (also pictured). There's also bear cubs decoupaged onto a wood plaque, paintings of prairie buildings, a velvet painting of a cactus (Aaron's choice, NOT mine), a ceramic cat, picture frames, vintage cookbooks and tea towels begging to be turned into aprons. I do fear that this may have been my last hurrah for the season, but man, it was a good one.

Spherey The Second

Hey, look! I finished something. After basically taking the summer off to lay on the couch and periodically throw up, I realized that I'm way behind schedule. It seems that almost everyone I know decided to give birth as I was suffering through that brutal first trimester, so I'm shamefully behind on my signature Jess Hutch baby gifts. What you see here is good old Spherey, knit up in Cascade 220 for a friend's babe due in November. I've knit just about everything from Jess's booklet Unusual Toys For You To Knit and Enjoy and I think, with the possible exception of Dolly, this one is my fave. He's just so weird looking. I love it.

I decided to start my long queue of baby gifts with this one, because I thought it might be nice to have at least one ready for a baby at the time of its birth. I have two August births to catch up on -- I think I'll still knit, but one baby will (hopefully) be getting a Thanksgiving gift and another a Christmas one. Then, I do have another kid due in a month to knit for, so I better get cracking on that one too. On top of that, I have Halloween costumes, winter gear (hats, mitts, you know the drill) and Xmas gifts... taking the summer off was not the greatest idea. With that said, I better run. I have a princess costume to make.

p.s. I forgot to add that yes, Jess's booklet is out of print. No, I will not photocopy or sell you my copy. I knit out of this thing a lot and I respect Jess's copyright rights, so I can't help you. She does have some free patterns on her site though, and there's always Kate from an old issue of Knitty.

Self Portrait Challenge: Bathroom

I know, it doesn't look like I'm in the bathroom here, but I am. See, we don't have a lot of art in our house. I don't know why -- we like art, we have a lot of friends who are artists, we have a lot of friends who went to art school, I think we have good taste in art... It's just not something we've invested in and it seems like we never have enough energy to get creative about hanging stuff on the walls.

Except in the bathroom. This framed comic has been in about five bathrooms of mine over the years and it's a universal hit with everyone who uses the loo. The kitsch factor is there, the vaguely queer title, the nostalgia... overall it's awesome. Unfortunately, if you've ever read any of these true love comics, they're not actually very good, so this one lives happily under glass for our friends and family to stare at while they do their business.

Little People For My Little Peep

Ruby and I were driving home from preschool today when I saw a sign that almost made my heart stop: "House And Contents For Sale." As some of you know, I didn't get to do much thrifting this summer and it's not often that an amazing estate sale hits me in the face... much less an hour after opening. It was fate, I tell ya.


So, inside the house there was a lot of ritzy, very expensive antique stuff -- the woman who owned the house had thankfully not passed away, she was just drastically downsizing (perhaps an assisted living home, I'm not sure, but she was mentioned by others in the present tense), so she was mostly getting rid of her vast collection of fancy stuff, not day to day housewares. But there was a room full of toys -- toys that were formerly owned by a man now in his 40s. Toys including loads of Fisher Price Little People.


Now, these kind of sales aren't usually of the bargain basement variety, but I did allow myself to spend about $25 on loot for Ruby. We ended up with a Little People School House and a family house, plus a mini bus and three zip-lock bags full of peeps and furnishings. This stuff is pretty old -- I'm pretty sure the school house is slightly before my own time (I think an older cousin had it at one point -- I'm more of the Sesame Street clubhouse vintage myself). And some of the peeps are wooden. Wooden!

Needless to say, Ruby freaked out. She has a couple old school Little People sets at the grandparents' houses and she has plenty of new school stuff, but she sensed that this stuff is special. And she's right.


p.s. We also got the wooden puzzle you see above. I kind of want to glue the pieces in and mount it in the baby's room, but I'll let Roo play with it for the time being.

Production...

... has been slow in these parts, but it hasn't ground to a halt. I spent most of the day trying to size and cut Ruby's Halloween costume, only to realize that it's going to be waaay too small (especially since I was planning for her to wear her coat under it). Luckily, I bought a truckload of fabric (it's cheap broadcloth and I figured since I was working with the wrong size pattern, I may need to make more than one attempt), so I may try again during ANTM tonight if I have the energy. Which I may not.

Anyone out there have an opinion on Gossip Girl? I think it may fill the teen soap void in my heart now that The O.C./Buffy/Gilmore Girls are all off the air. Aaron thinks it's weird that I need a teen soap in my life, but I pretend that his assertions that I'm lamely trying to deny the fact that I'm 32 are off base. It's research. For being a mother of a girl who will one day be a teenager. Because those shows are so true to life. Really.

Brand-Free Princesses

Ah, autumn is in the air and it's time to start thinking Halloween costume. As some of you know, the main reason that I got a sewing machine and started haphazardly and half-assedly learning how to sew was so I could make Ruby homemade Halloween costumes. I know... she'll never appreciate the hard work... in a couple years she'll start begging for store-bought ones... I know. But for now, it's something very mom-like I can give to her.

The pattern you see here is Butterick 6312, which I snagged at a church garage sale earlier this year. It's a classic from my own childhood -- my mom ended up making both the princess and the angel for me and the witch for my brother (though he demanded that we call him a warlock and had mom draw a moustache on his face). I searched the new pattern books for updated princess costumes but they all seemed too fancy/commercial for my skills.

When asked, Ruby said she wanted to be a clown for Halloween like last year, but I didn't feel like tackling another jumpsuit. I convinced her that princess was the way to go, but she's told us that she's not a regular princess, she's Ariel (from the Little Mermaid, natch). Since she's only two, I think she'll go for this generic number if we tell her she looks just like Ariel (or Sleeping Beauty or whatever story she's into by October). Hopefully by next year I won't have to sew the whole get-up with a red wig and a mermaid tail.

SPC: In The Bathroom

It's been a while since I participated in Self Portrait Challenge (despite being a contributor to their blog), so I thought I'd give it a go. This month's theme is "The Bathroom" and people have been coming up with some really brilliant shots.

Okay, I swear, swear, swear that this isn't going to become a pregnancy blog. In fact, I'm thinking about this pregnancy a lot less than the last one -- for obvious reasons. But I think this shot encapsulates my world right now -- toddler potty seat and bulging belly. That's what it boils down to these days. And I would like to point out that I am only three months pregnant and the bump is way exaggerated by the angle of the camera. You do get bigger faster the second time around, but within reason.

And thank you all who sent well wishes about our expected new addition. We're all very excited around here, especially Ruby. She's decided that the new baby is a sister and that her name will be Frank. And she told me yesterday that she loves the baby. Sigh.

In The Family Way

Okay, so you know how I've been not so inclined to craft/thrift/post for the last couple months? It's because I'm pregnant. Almost 13 weeks, to be exact. Expect a new addition to our family in March.

It's thrown me for a bit of a loop because I wasn't sick when I was preggers with Ruby (tired, sure, but not sick) and this time around I've had to instruct Aaron not to lock the bathroom door when he showers because I can rarely keep my breakfast down. Ick. I'm feeling a bit better now, but it's still rough, especially with a two-and-a-half year old wanting to use up the little energy I have.

So, that's why not a lot has been getting done around here. But I have been working on my crochet afghan and I did cast on a baby gift for a friend this morning. Oh, and I did do some thrifting on vacation, but nearly as much as I'd hoped. All I really ended up with is the apple tile you see above. I'll just have to cross my fingers that the little one will like the car and I'll be able to take him/her out next summer.

Home At Last

I'm home. And so are my socks! What you see above are my lovely Sockapalooza socks, knitted with affection by Fatimah over at The Knit Factor. Nice, eh? She used Fearless Fibers sock yarn in Midnight Passion and the pattern is Pembrokeshire Pathways by Brenda Dayne. Don't they kind of remind you of the socks I knitted for my pal? The pattern is different (there are cables in between the lace holes) and it's a different yarn, but still kind of in the same family. Thanks Fatimah, they're awesome.

And yes, I'm finally back from vacation, just in time to see the leaves start to turn on my trees. I must say, there's been much summer lovin' in blogland, but I'm glad to see this summer over. It's been a tough one. I'll elaborate as to why another day, maybe tomorrow, as I don't want to take away from the glory of my sock post.

See You In September

I really wish that I could have started this post with a show and tell of my Sockapalooza socks, but it seems that our local postal system is sloooow (something to do with a labour shortage affecting the sorting department), so even though my pal sent them over a week ago, still no luck. And I'm not going to be seeing them for a while because we're taking off on vacation for the next while. So, I'll be out of blogland for a couple weeks. See you in September!

Dishrags, Dishrags Everywhere

Okay, so I can't tell you how much better I feel as a human being now that the guilt of not wanting to work on my Mystery Stole has been lifted. I still haven't been knitting a lot per se, but I do have some dishrags to show you. I decided that it might be fun to whip some of these guys up when my fingers are feeling busy (but not busy enough to do something too heavy duty), so I bought a pile of cotton yarn. Here is my first set (I'm planning to do a bunch for Xmas hostess gifts/stocking stuffers -- yes, for me it is necessary to plan this far ahead). You've got your standard free patterns, plus the famed Mason Dixon slip-stitch one and a couple from the Lion Brand Just Gifts book. To be honest, I think I like the Just Gifts slip stitch (the blue and yellow one) a lot better than the Mason Dixon. Neater edges, I guess.

I'm surprised I haven't delved into the world of dishrags before. A few years ago my friend Leanne gave me a little stack of cotton cloths and Ruby and I both swear by them in the shower/bath. So, expect to see a few more of these guys in these parts. Plus, there's so many patterns out there, I have a feeling this might be my new addiction.

Kickin'

Wow, sometimes life is just so... life. Yeah, I'm having one of those days. But, to prove that I am indeed still kickin' here is a pic of my just finished Charade sock. The photo is purposely not super hot, so that I can do a more grand reveal once the second sock is finished. I'm loving the Downey colourway, if only because it's so unpredictable. Like everything else.

Enough

Enough is enough. I've abandoned my Mystery Stole. The charts are giving me a headache, I'm not enjoying the knitting and I hate the colour I chose. Also, today Melanie revealed the general shape of the final design and... it's not for me (which is nothing against Melanie or her designing prowess -- it's just not for me). Why beat myself up over something I'm never going to wear and probably never going to finish? We shall never speak of it again.

All Stuffed With Fluff

Okay, while the actual making of stuff has ground to a near halt in these parts, I'm still thinking about making stuff. And buying stuff that will eventually be made into stuff. One day. I swear.

My latest prized possession is this 1965 McCall's pattern, for which I paid more than I'll publicly admit (on ebay, natch). Here's the story: Ruby is obsessed with Winnie The Pooh. Obsessed. To appease her obsession (or perhaps to feed it), Leena pulled out some old Pooh Bear stuffies that she'd bought for Aaron's sister Daniella way back in the '70s when she was a little girl. Leena explained that they were made from a McCall's pattern that she'd never been able to find for herself. Well, the rest is history -- I had to take a crack at finding the pattern and making Ruby some of these guys for her own.

It seems that the small town ladies that Leena bought Daniella's toys from modified the pattern -- they're made of felt with the seams on the outside, as opposed to the original pattern, which are made in the more standard way. I'm not quite sure how I'll do them or what kind of fabric I'll use -- I'm just glad I snagged to pattern for future use. Does anyone else out there remember these toys or have any of them? I'd love to see other examples.

Still Here

Wow, I didn't mean to drop out for so long. The lack of posting in these parts is pretty much due to a complete lack of crafting, thrifting or anything else that I usually write about. Chalk it up to summer, I guess. While so many bloggers have been writing about how glorious their season has been, mine has actually been pretty trying thus far. I'm not good in the heat and the hot summer was one of the few reasons that I was glad to leave Toronto last year. Unfortunately, there have been record highs here and since it's usually not this hot in these parts, air conditioning is scarce (and unheard of in homes). So, I've been sweating it out. Literally.

Here's my poor Mystery Stole, over a week into the two-week Clue #4. This clue goes to row 335 and I'm a measly 227 rows in. With me averaging about six rows every other day, it's clear that I'm not going to finish by Friday. I've got to push myself though, or I'm going to put this thing away and never pick it up again. Must finish the lace. Even if it takes me through September.

Charming, Indeed!

I finally finished my first "real" (I can't count the tea towel apron -- it was too easy!) project from Amy Karol's Bend The Rules Sewing. It's the very popular Charming Handbag. The outer part is made from an also very popular Super Buzzy fabric with little Russian dolls that I've had sitting around for a while. The lining is some scraps from the Wee Wonderful dolls that I made at Christmas.



I love this bag. I'm still not super confident with my sewing skills, but man, Amy makes it so easy to deal with. Now I just have to find a few places to go where I can take a bag that's too small to fit diapers/baby sunscreen/sippy cups in.

Mystery Stole: Chuggin' Along

And, after a week of few words, we're back to regular scheduled programming. I must say, all that colour week business was a nice distraction from having to update you on Mystery Stole Three. The above picture is the stole as it looks right this minute -- the purple string is my lifeline, which was put in as I started Clue #3. I did pretty okay with Clue #2, making one big mistake with that diagonal line that goes towards the middle, but choosing to ignore that particular blunder. Then another blunder was made, some stitches dropped in the tinking and... I had to frog back to the lifeline I put in after Clue #1. Thirty-three rows, gone. It was devastating. But at least I got to correct the unwanted zig-zag in that diagonal part.

So, I'm glad for lifelines. But I'm still not so sure if lace is for me. I do like the homework aspect of this project, but quite honestly, I think it's the only thing that's keeping me going. I'm not too happy with my choice of white yarn (so contrary to my style) and I'm not totally sure that the lace is my style either (Aaron's uttered the words "old lady-ish" a couple of times when inspecting the stole). But, I'm going to keep at it. As long as the weather agrees that is -- it's been so hot here that the yarn was sticking to my hand leaving it's fluffy halo behind. Gross.

Sunday: Pink

Saturday: Red

Friday: Orange

Despite my obvious love of pink, I've got to say that this is the best day of the week with the best colour ever. I love my Tiger Lilies so much that they make me want to cry.

Colour Week: Brown and Black

Colour Week: Green

From the garden (and the kitchen):

Tuesday: Blue

There's not a huge amount of blue around here, but this is what I came up with:

Colour Week: Yellow

Andrea is hosting a colour week (yes, I spell it with a "u" -- I'm Canadian) and I thought I'd join in. Its raining like crazy today, so I snapped a few yellow things that are inside my house. After a full, full, full weekend (garage sale, watching Aaron paint the kitchen, an anniversary date, a night out with an old friend seeing an amazing and very dreamy band play, a trip to the Calgary Stampede and general craziness), I'm not much for writing, so here are the pics:


Ruby's toiletries.


A souvenir from a magazine I wrote for years and years ago. I found it while digging through stuff for the garage sale. I love this guy -- I know the yellow is scant, but it's there.


The first coat of kitchen paint.

W.I.P. Friday: The Stole

Oh, Mystery Stole. I think somewhere in the neighbourhood of 6000 people are doing Mystery Stole now. Unsurprisingly, I cancelled my subscription to the digest emails because it was just too crazy and quite honestly, there was very little information that I found very useful. But, I'm happily knitting along, just now in a more solitary way, which decreases the crazy pressure to crank out this lace stole.

Here's what I realized after knitting clue #1 (which I completed on Monday): lace isn't really my craft. I'm going to stick with this project, but I'm just not fussy enough to be bothered to frog back when I make a mistake. This isn't good, since a wee mistake on a fancy lace pattern can ruin the whole thing. I missed a yarnover or something around row 60, and while after some fudging you can barely tell, I know this thing is going to be far from perfect. I'm going to insert a lifeline in between clues, but in general, I'm not that emotionally invested in perfection. Bad lace knitter.

I'm also chugging along on my Charade socks and I'm halfway through a fabric bag... more to come if this heat ever lets up.

Book Review: Just Socks and Just Gifts

So, I wasn't immediately excited by the thought of the newest books in the Lion Brand Just... series. After all, while Lion Brand is better than say, Red Heart, I'm more of a LYS kind of girl than a Michael's shopper and I also think that all of those Lion Brand fun fur ads (you know, where the girl has Lion Brand fun fur on the cuffs of her jeans, jacket and dog's collar) just totally turned me off. But then when I saw that the books were edited by the very respectable Shannon Okey, I thought I'd check them out. And what did I find? A little bit of good and a smidge of meh.

I'll start with the meh. Just Socks features about three dozen sock patterns (knit and crochet) and while some of them are cute, I don't think any of them would fit all that comfortably under shoes. I may be wrong, but I don't think Lion Brand actually makes a sock weight yarn, so the finest yarn used here is weighted at a 3 (which is DK), but most of them are made of Lion Wool, which is weighted at a 4 (worsted). That's just too thick for my tastes.

Still, there are some cute patterns in here and they'd definitely be suited to beginners who want to try out sock knitting but are afraid to try knitting on toothpicks. And I can actually see myself making some of the more slipper style socks to wear around the house or in bed. Let's see what happens come winter time.



Just Gifts fares a little better. The first pattern is for a super cute crochet bear designed by my former secret pal Kim Werker. There are also some super cool dishrags that I've already knitted up (more on that in a future post)and some cute bags and mittens. There are a couple of things that recall that horrible fun fur ad (namely a felted newsboy hat big enough to hide a head of dreads under), but generally, it's a pretty cute little book. And there are tons of gifts for pets, including a sushi cat toy, if you're into that kind of thing.

So, Lion Brand might not be the hippest in some knitting circles, but these books are okay. I can't see 400 people on Ravelry simultaneously casting on to make Just Gifts' Teddy Bear Hat And Shoe Set, but there are a lot of people who like Lion Brand just fine and don't care about the knitting cliques. These books are for them and also for yarn snobs who might want a simple project to distract us from our Monkey socks and Clapotis.

Mail... So Far

Seeing as its a holiday here and there'll be no new mail, I thought I'd show off my mail from last week. Six cards so far from Andrea's super fab postcard swap. I should receive 13 in total and I expect them to trickle in, as the U.S./Canada postal transfer sometimes takes a while. Thankfully it seems like mine are finding their way to their new homes as well, so the summer love is spreading.

Oh, and that photobooth strip on the fridge (me and my lovely friend Mark) is totally for Andrea's benefit.