cruising

Well, I have completed my baby kimono, but I don’t feel like fetching the camera out of the car OR dealing with the massive clusterf*ck that is my current Aperture/iPhoto installation conflict, so I’m not going to take a picture. I’ll comment that I’m very pleased with the LOOK of the sweater, but not so thrilled with the utility of the thing, because I suspect my finishing isn’t so sturdy. See, I lined the edging with a 1.5 cm wide striped grosgrain ribbon, which looks AWESOME (IMnshO) and definitely stabilizes the stockinette edge from rolling, but you know, I’m not the happiest person when it comes to sewing, and I’m just not 100% thrilled with it. Also, I did put on those daisy buttons, but I’m not so happy with the strength of the buttonholes. Oh well. What can a newborn do to it? Actually I’m not so worried about that, as much as what the PARENTS or SIBLINGS can do to it. Well, whatever, it’s done and it’s cute.

I have also ALMOST finished my feather-and-fan wrap, and now that it’s big enough to put on and model, I’m loving it, so that’s good.

Next up: some sort of kitchen towel or washcloth or something as part of a wedding gift (I’m thinking of the LOVE washcloth I made myself last year...). The real gift is a check. I just want to put a little more personal effort into it, you know? I hate giving money.

baby kimono - Mason Dixon Knitting

I made a little sweater for my as-yet-unborn niece. I used Lily dishcloth cotton that I had lying around. I am not sure yet if I’m going to use those buttons you see in the picture, or if I’m going to make cord-ties, or use ribbon as per the pattern. I am pretty sure I’m going to line the hem with some grosgrain ribbon, though.

First, a shot of the fabric - this is true to color for the most part:



And the sweater, heavily wet-blocking - I just want to make sure there is enough stretch in the cuffs and arms, so I have it pinned out pretty far.

What to knit?

So, I’m still doing my feather-and-fan stole. I finished the first ball of Kidsilk Haze today and joined another ball by the oh-so-classy method of tying the ends together, leaving 2“ tails on either side, and knitting the tails in - by which I mean I laid the tails alongside the working yarn, each tail pointing in an opposite direction, leaving me with about 4 inches of yarn in which the KSH portion of the yarn (because I’m working one strand KSH and one strand Helen’s Lace, remember) was doubled. And I just made sure that those tail pieces were lying snugly against the rest of the yarn as I knit that section. It really looks perfectly fine. I can not even find the knot when I look for it now (I’m about two inches past that point - and I know for sure what section of stole it is in because I placed a safety pin about two rows before I reached the end of the ball of yarn - and I still can’t find the knot!!).

BUT. I am kind of bored with this and it doesn’t ”have to be“ done til November. So..... I’m thinking about other projects!

1. I need to knit hats for Naomi and Lilah. For N, I’m pretty sure I can use the leftover yarn from jacob’s sweater. Although, J might want a matching hat for his sweater. I could maybe eke out two hats. I’m not sure.
2. I want to make a baby kimono for the upcoming baby my SIL is having in early September
3. I want to make a baby blanket, maybe, for the same baby. I’m not 100% sure
4. I SHOULD make SOMETHING for the baby of a good friend. The baby was born March 27th, but I just got the announcement Friday. It’s a pretty good friend, we just don’t talk as often as we should! No ideas on this yet but a mutual friend of mine informs me that the baby has a baptism coming up in two or three weeks (the baby’s parents wouldn’t have invited a heathen like me into their church so I wouldn’t have otherwise known. and no, he doesn’t really think I’m a heathen, he just knows I don’t generally like going into churches and he wouldn’t have wanted to make me feel obligated to go into one!)

I *did* order Mason-Dixon knitting so I will have their baby kimono pattern when Amazon.com gets around to sending that to me (actually it is already sent, but it’s not here and they say I shouldn’t expect it for a while).

What to do?

Anyone have any thoughts?
I kind of have this idea about doing a plain baby blanket in organic cotton for my SIL’s baby... something that would knit up FAST, so maybe I’d hold two strands of worsted together, or find a chunky weight yarn... maybe something with a cable and a seed stitch border?

SIGH. I’m so indecisive.

WIP: feather and fan stole

My newest project:







I’m using Helen’s Lace (50% wool, 50% silk, laceweight), I think the color is Cedar; I’m holding one strand of that together with one strand of Rowan Kidsilk Haze in shade 577, a kind of greenish gold color. I’m using size 10 needles and doing a basic feather-and-fan stole type of thing. This is to go with a dress i have, a green with gold brocade, that is, ahem, very bare in a place I am not used to exposing so much skin ☺

FO: Ten minute tank

Naomi was begging and begging for me to knit her something so I caved. I didn’t want to make the child anything complicated since she has a nasty habit of not wearing what I knit, but I wanted it to be something she’d like, too. So. I found the pattern for the 10 minute tank and decided it would look great knit up in Naomi’s favorite colorway of Plymouth Fantasy Naturale (100% mercerized cotton) (and the color is 9703 if anyone cares). This pattern is knit sideways in garter, and uses short-row shaping to give it a little flare at the bottom edge. Stitches are picked up at the top shoulders to make straps and i-cord ties to keep it on!

I finished sewing in the ends at visiting day today - yes, 100 F and humid, and I was standing in the sun watching my little camper cavort and frolic through the sprinklers. Mommy has a migraine now but whatever.

Free at last!

OK, it’s independence day, and the yoke of oppression has been lifted! Jacob’s sweater is blocking. Of course now I have to decide what to do next. Pick up the in-progress Jaywalkers? Start something short and sweet like a kippah for Jacob? Naomi wants a tank top really badly - I should probably do that. But then... I have no stash-yarn that’s appropriate... but, I have so much stash... SIGH.

So, the sweater. There is an obvious (to me anyway) stripe in the midsection where one hank ends and another starts. I guess one hank was darker. I used 5 hanks plus a few rows’ worth from the sixth hank, btw, of the Blue Sky Alpaca hand-dyed worsted navy blue yarn I used for this. It’s not worsted. It’s heavy/chunky if you ask me. But anyway.

Here it is:





Bonus stash photo:



And bonus NZ-related photos:





Where I craft:



I gotta do something about that power cord running across the front of that shelving unit. I’m gonna lose that iPod dock one day.