Family Heirlooms

I was recently asked by a friend if I would look at a sweater her Grandmother started 20 plus years ago. If possible could I finish it for her. Her grandmother was making the sweater for her cousin, who was a baby at the time, but sadly she got very sick and put it away. She continued knitting on afghans but never went back to the sweater. The cousin is now well into her twenties and has children of her own. The sweater is about a size 2 and will fit one of these descendants. It is a beautiful aran pattern that was perfectly stitched. The pattern was gone but only 12 rows of the fronts needed to be done and assembled and then the collar. I have put aside other projects to do this (I know, Amy, obsess about a knitting project, g-waan). The wool was rough but knit wonderfully. After washing and blocking the sweater is much softer. It is exactly what I think of for an heirloom aran sweater.

It is such an honor to have been asked to finish what Grandma started so she can be remembered. I know she lovingly knit every stitch thinking of the baby that would wear it, and as she hoped, it would be passed on to the next generation to be wrapped in her love.

Happy Fall

It is a magnificent fall on Long Island. Pumpkins are being harvested, mums and Montauk daisies are ready to bloom and traffic has moved from the Hampton's to the North Fork. The Ts and my Mr. and I have been able to get out and enjoy these beautiful days that remind me of God's blessings around us. I know I am blessed in so many ways but have had some of those reminders this last week that make me say an extra prayer of Thanks. We walked for miles in the sunshine and perfect temperatures for two days. Saturday we met friends in Central Park and walked all over and climbed the rocks and then walked down to Hells Kitchen for a great dinner and then to Time Square to their hotel (a cab ride back to our van though!). Sunday we spent out on the other end of Long Island at Maritime Festival in Greenport and walked for hours there. The boats were dreamy. Oh my feet and legs!!!!

I also saw a friend of mine this weekend who asked me the greatest thing. She is going to work on spinning and dying yarn and would like me to help write patterns and knit samples. Would I be interested?

Wait let me think..................... YES!!!!! This is so exciting, if I weren't so tired I don't know if I could sleep tonight. Wow what an opportunity. More on that to come.

On the knitting front, I am back to the Urban Aran and should finish soon, body and one sleeve done.

Fall and Wool are in the air and I am happy. Fall is my favorite season!

Baby Morgan

I am mailing off a baby outfit I made for my cousin, Kelly. After her baby shower I heard she did not have a "coming home" from the hospital outfit. Gasp!! That required immediate knitting!!!! She is having a girl, Morgan Kay, in October. I did not want to be late so I knit like crazy to be sure I got the outfit delivered before Kelly delivered. T he search for baby sweater, hat and bottoms turned up many options. My pick for sweater is the Dragon Skin Wrap from Interweave Knits, Holiday 2007. This is a lovely pattern but written with 3-12 months as the smallest size. Let's face it that is not "coming home" from the hospital outfit. I sized it down to fit an 18" chest but the wrap will allow for all that fast baby growth. I also did a "growing room" inside closure. The yarn is Cascade's Cherub Collection DK that is soft and washable and pink. I have three boys, pink is new for me!! The hat is a pattern I found on Ravelry that had the right number of stitch pattern stitches. I continued the dragon skin stitches and used the decreases from the Petal hat. Oh and of course knit in the round, this me knitting!

Hat pictured here on my lovely hydrangea.

The bottoms turned out to be harder to find a pattern for. I wanted a footed legging that was knit in the round. Apparently no one else has written a pattern that covers both of these requirements. I will just have to do this. They knit up very quickly and simply. I have some testers lined up. I have a name picked. I also have an idea that all the proceeds from the sale of this soon to be pattern should go to a children's charity. I have some ideas but I am looking for suggestions.

So, Morgan Kay, you now have something to wear home. Come when you are ready there are many people far and near to love you and keep you warm. Every stitch is a kiss and hug from Amy in New York.

Top Down T

This was going to be a quick in between project. I like to say that and then my ideas usually end up taking longer and "quick" is no longer an appropriate adjective. The idea was to use up some of the great yarn my Mom gave me from my stash so it was also cheap. I am happy to say all things worked very well and I love the end product too!!

I started at the top because I only had 7 skeins of yarn and didn't know exactly what was going to happen. I cast on and just started knitting ...

There are no directions yet because this top knit up so fast I didn't have time to stop and write down what I was doing!!! Seriously, how often in hand work does that happen. Total time spent was about 20 days. I will take time to write more about this another time. I finished and now get to work on a very special project for a new baby coming soon to our family. Kelly and Arron are in need of an outfit to bring Morgan Kay home in early October. I picked the Dragon-Skin wrap from Holiday '07 Interweave Knits. I need to find a hat pattern that will work with it.

I am off to start Back to School shopping and hope to get more knitting in too.

My New Cardi!

On Sunday I finished the off white cardigan I have been working on. The one I had did not like my washer (but found a great home with Kris). The body of the sweater was based on the Landon pattern by Jordana Paige. The trim however is based on A Cardigan for Arwen pattern by Kate Gilbert. All together I think it came out all me. I tried to take pictures and got some interesting results, oops!

I started the body from the neck down like the Landon and when I got to the point where I was suppose to increase for the cable band on the fronts I made the front band seperately. I did a cable cast on and knit from the center back out each direction. The front band and collar are three times wider than the band on the Arwen sweater. When the band was the length I needed I sewed it to the body and continued with all live stitches. The bottom band and the sleeve cuff are the one area I am not sure of but will not be redoing. I had to increase the number of stiches to account for the "gathering" caused by the cables and could have added more to allow for a more A-line silhouette. I decided to keep the bottom as it is because I didn't want to sleeves to be any fuller. I could have gotten away with no increases in the sleeves themselves as they were big enough from the under arm. (It was only 8 stitches.)

The yarn is Sierra by Cascade Yarns and I am once again very happy with thier yarn. I will say again, Cascade is a great value for knitting. It is a 80% Pima Cotton / 20% Merino Wool blend and was perfect for summer knitting. I used about 8 1/2 skeins. The big test will be to see how it wears. My concerns are the weight of the cable bands making it stretch and any pilling. The wool made the yarn lighter then many cottons and I hope better memory. Only time will tell.

A little news

I have not been here for far too long. I just noticed I last posted over a month ago. Hmmm. The last month of school is traditionally very busy and I never seem to get more than a few rows knit on any day. There were weeks in June that I only knit one or two evenings so there is not much new to show. I have finished the body of the cardigan I am working on and have been making progress on the sleeves. I am tried of all the stockinette. I will take some progress pictures as soon as I can. It is pretty and I will get much wear out of it.

One thing to mention is the unexpected car trip we took back to Wisconsin two weeks ago. A very dear friend of ours passed away and so I was able to knit on the drive. 16 hours in the car each way is really not as much knitting as I would have liked. We left at 10 p.m. and drove through the night. My mister and I do well taking turns at the wheel. The time I was not driving I was napping and did so most of the trip. Some knitting was done of course and the body would still not be done had we not gone.

I am still unable to put my thoughts on the loss of Chuck into words. My mister blogged about him. I know that this wonderful man is in heaven. I don't think he is resting in peace, that was not his style. He will be playing hockey and making friends and welcoming new arrivals. God has a plan for the people that Chuck touched and it must include finding happiness in his absence. We will all meet again and I look forward to that day but for now there are still tears when I think of him. Pray for his family and the many friends that the pain of loss will lessen quickly. Ok, maybe I do have some words.

Facebook

Hi, my name is Amy, I am a Facebook addict.

I love that site. I check on my friends multiple times every day. I chat with people almost every time I am on line. I have recently been sucked into the Bejeweled Blitz craze. (I have no idea how to get 50,000 points! but I keep trying) I keep in touch with my family and friends this way. I love to see pictures posted. I love to post pictures of my family and our activities. My husband has been a Facebook user for a number of years. T1 also now has a page. We must be on his friend list and he knows we check on him, he is 14. This is safe internet/parenting practices.

Any one not familiar with Facebook I suggest you check it out. It is a networking site. Be warned though that you will lose significant amounts of time. Time will disappear and you will never get it back. You will not mind though. You will find friends that you previously lost. High school and college pals that were not at the last reunion. Neighborhood chums that you thought were gone with your childhood. They will post pictures and chat and tell you how their day went. Time will go. You will be happy you visited. You will have networked.

I only have 120 friends on my list which is not a lot by most counts, but I feel honored and blessed that that many people have me on their list. Thirty of those people are my family and extended family.

For the first time last night I deleted someone. "Are you sure you want to remove this person from you list? This cannot be undone." I clicked-yes.

The person in question is a teenager that was our neighbor before we moved. Teenagers seem to think that Facebook is for kids. It is not. It is a networking site. Why do humans 13 to 18 years of age need to network? I added her as a friend to keep in touch with the whole family. I don't have many teens on my list but there are only two that use the status updates like texting or instant messaging. You know the fewer letters the better, idk=i don't know, brb=be right back, etc. The entire year of having her updates on my page has been a series of incomplete sentences full of words with no spelling rules. The spelling is not even phonetic. I have no idea what was being said or implied. Her relationship status was single, then married, then single again, at 15 or 16?! I know this is a smart girl with a solid home and family. Anyway, our conversation went like this last night:

Girl two days ago: One more dai of school!! Noe that!

Girl yesterday: Tmmr the last dai......tears!

Me: Are you going to summer school for spelling?

Girl: Of course not, i am a honor roll student. There's no need to do such a thing. My spelling is superb. My statues are in internet slang and that's it.

Me: Your statues or statuses?

Girl: Really?? You want to go there. Let me break this down for you, i don't need to explain a darn thing about what i write and when i write it. What you said, was very uncalled for, rude and unladylike. Have you ever heard the saying "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say nothing at all." Don't get ahead of yourself, because i will put you where u need to be, know that. You think your so much better than everyone else, well sweetheart your not. End of discussion.

Me: Unladylike is your status spelling. I am very glad you are on the honor roll. Congratulations. You are a smart lovely young lady. Remember that is what you should put out for the public to see.


My Mr.: I am sorry to see you use such harsh rhetoric with Amy. It is unfortunate that in all the years living next door to you, being a friend of the family and helping out when she could that she could not be shown a little more respect in public. You have hurt her feelings over something that was meant to be fun. Please consider making an apology at your earliest.
Warm regards.

Girl's
Mom: Hi, These comments seem to have gotten out of control, of course, living next door to each other stands for something, but I think Amy hurt Girl's feelings first. Saying that Girl needs to go to summer school for something so childess as spelling on this young adult web page was out of order. We have to remember to never throw stones if we live in a glass house. I do not ever use this page because I know that the young people have fun with it using their own language, so please consider that. It is truley my hope that all is forgiven and forgotten.

Girl: You have over stepped your boundries


There is so much to say but, as was pointed out, that would not be ladylike.

I finished Twisting with My Mr.

Finally, I found toggles to finish the Twist sweater I made for my Mr. I am proud of how it all worked out and I think it will be something he will wear frequently. His work uniform is white polo and khaki pants and the yarn color works well with that. It is light weight and will be a great layering piece. The toggles came from one of my Long Island favorites, Now and Zen in Greenport, and I think they are just what the look needed. Anyway, we went down to the beach to take pictures and as always the T's, the dog and the beach meant fun, fun, fun!

So to recap the Twist Sweater project (Ravelry link) - The pattern is based very loosely on the Irregular Rib Raglan by Teva Durham. In fact the more the sweater progressed the less like her pattern it was. The over all look is similar but I did a lot of altering as I knit. The yarn is Blackberry Ridge Silk Blend Medium Weight in color Cobblestone. A great color but the yarn was a bit stiff while knitting. It did soften with washing. Over all I think it is just right for my guy!!

Summer Knitting

I was sitting at T2's soccer game last Saturday knitting on the Urban Aran. (This is progressing rather slowly.) The weather was perfect, sunny and in the 70's and 80's both Saturday and Sunday!! I was bantering with T1 (who will be the recipient of said sweater) and he was then picking on me, as 14 year olds tend to not know when to quit, so I decided to put the sweater in summer hibernation. Pthhhh!!! Take that sassy boy, you will not get a wool bulky knit sweater till fall!!! See I am Mom and really in control, right?

I took pictures to show you how far I have gotten and what did they show?!!!! I will never understand why the camera needs to pick up things we would rather not see. An extra 15 pounds, facial blemishes, dust bunnies in the background and color pooling in yarn skeins. Just when you think you are doing everything right and the picture shows a blatant color pooling on the bottom from the first skeins. Honestly it can not be seen but now I will know it is there and it will just bug me. Sorry to swear but - crap!

So now you want to know what I have been doing? I cast on for a cardigan for me. A cotton/wool blend. Watch for more details but the cream pictures are just the beginning...

My apologies

I have been absent. Please forgive me.

Things got wild here the beginning of April and I feel like life is just now settling down. T1 was confirmed into the Lutheran church on April 5th. It is a big deal for us and the fact that we now live 900 miles from most of our family means a celebration involved travel and house guests. As we prepared for hosting 12 out of town guests for the weekend and a party with 35 guest as well as regular life, I didn't have much time for knitting.

The short story is it was a wonderful weekend that flew by way too fast. The weather did not co-operate but we had three days of food and family all in support of a boy becoming a man.

So there has not been a great deal of knitting as I said so very little to post about. I finished the body of the Urban Aran sweater, finally. I had gotten to the under arm and decided I wanted more of the side cable detail. I frogged back almost a skein of yarn and re-knit. The rest of the body was knit without incident. I did struggle with alterations because I think the pattern would be great as a raglan. If I ever do this pattern again I will try it. Last week I cast on for the sleeves and have been plugging away.

A little side bar-I have been feeling a bit uninspired the last few days. I think I need to be around some artistic and inspiring people. A friend of mine who is an incredible artist has a new web site. Take some time to peruse his portfolio and if you are ever in the Milwaukee area try to get to his gallery and tell him Amy sent you.

www.reginaldbaylor.com

Enjoy.

Urban Aran on St. Patty's Day

I have started the Urban Aran for Thing 1, inspired by Jared Flood of BrooklynTweed. His is wonderful and my son really liked it. When a 13 year old likes a sweater, we make it!! Thing 1 requested a zipper just at the neck so I decided to knit in the round. Lets face it if it can be knit it the round it should be! I will need to make it longer because he is tall and skinny so I added an inch right away at the bottom and plan another extra inch before the underarms. The smallest size will fit him with the extra length. My yarn choice is Araucania Nature Wool Solids from my Mom's stash (I call it dipping into my inheritance!!) I cast on Friday evening and have forgotten how fast two strands of yarn on size 10 needles goes. I feel like a speed knitter!!!! Now on Tuesday March 17th I am 6 1/2 inches in and I worked yesterday. The green I think goes very well with my Guinness for St. Patrick's day, don't you? Luck o' the Irish to you!

I started working a few days a week about three weeks ago. This, like house work, really cuts into my knitting time. The job is good so far. I am doing insurance and billing for my chiropractor. This was the second postition they offered me so I really could not refuse. I love the people I am working with and the patients are great too. The point is my knitting will either all have to be done on size 10's or there will be longer lapses between posts. Bear with me.

P.S. I finished the Twist for my Mr. but need a toggle and then I will get photos.

What I did instead of knitting...

I spent the day taking pictures of almost all of my yarn stash and entering it into the organizer on Ravelry. (to anyone that doesn't know-Ravelry is on online knit and crochet community.) The Stash organizer is so cool it even impressed my geek Mr.!! I now have everything in one place and I can see what I have, in what gauge, and color and how many yards, and now pictures too!!! I have been trying to get at this since I became a member last summer. I do admit my stash is by my laundry and used the mountains as my excuse to stay in the basement all afternoon. (I did not get it all washed yet and no folding took place but tomorrow is another day!) The pictures are of the stash sorted in picture version and the other is the chart version, too cool in my land of knitting!

The other picture is of my new "borrowed" Kindle. I was given it to try till further notice. I was waiting for "Knit Two" to be available in paperback but downloaded it the other night. I read at night when my hands are too tired to knit so hard cover books don't really work. Have you ever dozed off holding a hardcover or gotten a hand cramp? The Kindle is light and easy to hold and just a click of the bar on the side and you are turning pages. Very cool. Another bonus is that you can change the font size so when I am laying down I can take my glasses off and still read. Thank you Mr ?

Chilly Willy

Well, they did it and survived!! I have pictures to prove it. Thank to those who sponsored them. I have them home now and warmed up on homemade mac and cheese. Carbs to warm you, right? It was a very nice day and the sun was glorious. I believe there were a record number of "Plungers" at over 75. The principal of T3's school challenged the school families to raise $1,000 to "Plunge your Principal"! She did raise the money and wore a great costume as well. One of our church members also raised $1,800. Really does warm me.

Groups

I have nothing new to show. I thought I would ask you to take a moment of your day to read about some projects I think are very interesting. This is a charity group project to benefit the Support Network for Battered Women, True Beauty. The other group to read about is The Milkweed Project, which is a collaborative art project. (Both of these are Ravelry groups, a and b.)

I also want to brag about my boys. My Mr. and T1 & T2 are taking the Peconic Plunge on Saturday to benefit the homeless here on Long Island. They will be swimming in the bay for a bit and T3 and I will be holding the towels and blankets. (I am making soup to warm the swimmers as well.) Then on Sunday afternoon T1 is participating in World Vision's "I will starve for food" which is a 30 hour fast to raise awareness and monies to feed children around the globe. More here.

Thank you for your time.

Bella, Bella, Bella, and Bella

I finished pair one and two. I timed myself on the second pair and it took 7 hours. I was working out of two skeins and had to finish the second pair to find it took only one skein per pair. I know I have said it many times but the Brown Sheep Lambs Pride is the best yarn and the best value out there. The pattern calls for 220 yards so I got 4 skeins now I have enough for four pairs. When I gave the finished mittens to the teacher that commissioned them another teacher wants the fourth pair! The other day I knit the 7 hours straight and even today still have hand cramps. I know, Boohoo! a whole day of knitting.

Bella's Mittens

I was asked to knit the Bella Mittens from the movie "Twilight" for the kindergarten teacher at T3's school. She and her friends fell in love with them. I have the first pair of three done except for the thumbs. I am using Brown Sheep Worsted in Charcoal Heather from School Products in Manhattan. I didn't want to wait or pay for shipping so I had my Mr. pick it up when he was there last week. This yarn is wonderful. If you have never used it I highly recommend finding a project appropriate. The pattern is only 82 rows so went pretty quickly. Twelve stitch cable pattern and ribbing. Nice. I am going back to finish now and watch the rest of the Super Bowl (really I just like the commercials).

p.s. The computer is working much better now and was only gone for 4 days!

Radio silence

I have been having laptop problems and will be sending it in for repairs. The thing overheats and shuts off. Right in the middle of yarn shopping. This is a bad thing. I don't know how long HP will have it and if I can get on my Mr's so don't think I will have forgotten you. I will spend the time knitting so there will be FO's to report.

Twisting with my Mr.

I have been working on the Twist sweater for my dear Mr. It had been put aside for holiday knitting. I named it that because of the way the stitch pattern looks. The garment is based on the irregular rib raglan from Loop-d-loop by Teva Durham. That pattern is one size and the finished measurement is 46" chest which is just too big. If I eliminate one pattern repeat then it would be too small. The yarn is Blackberry Ridge Silk Blend Medium Weight in the Cobblestone colorway. I find the yarn makes a very stiff fabric that doesn't suit the pattern. So re-work it is.

Mr. was very attracted to the asymmetrical design so that is a feature I kept. I thought a herringbone stitch would be masculine but in my good but not great knitting ability I got that twist instead. (I have not worked with the stitch pattern to figure out what I am doing wrong yet mostly because I kinda like it.) The yarn is slightly smaller than the pattern is written for so I am fudging as I go. I have finished the body and about 5" of the sleeves. This is a slow knit, s l o w... ... I would love to be done. I have other things in my head that are rattling around, making so much noise I am having a hard time staying focused on this. Years ago I discovered I would rather do fun stuff and let the not fun sit for another time. This is a personality flaw I know. I am sure this is another way of saying I am a procrastinator. I am writing this instead of knitting, cleaning or doing laundry. I just like to have fun, I am a girl after all. So I am not allowing myself to stop. Well I will get back at it. Thanks for the break.

p.s. I am having camera issues so don't have new photos.

Some belated Holiday sightings

Thank you Mom!

What is better than knitting gifts for Christmas presents? Getting knitted gifts!! My mom is a huge knitting inspiration to me and is a great gift knitter. Again, lucky me! Mom knit hats for my Mr. and T1 & 2. T3 got these awesome shark slippers and I am the recipient of the Mary Jane slippers in my favorite color. Thanks Mom, you ROCK!

Thank you Big Sis!

My big sister had my name in our ornament exchange, lucky me!! She knows all my vices and gave me the best ornament ever. Now this never made it to my tree because it was just too heavy and the ribbon and hook don't mask that it is not a tree ornament. I love her creativity. Really though let's face it, I just couldn't wait to drink out of it. Not only is drinking coffee one of my favorite activities but the whole cable knit motif really sums me up, who knows you better than family? Thanks Becky. Really.