Happy Halloween!

Cisco Hat by Berroco
My handspun Corriedale, "New Day" by Spunky Eclectic



Maybe a little big for this year, but I think she can make it work.

Down to the wire

While I was waiting on new yarn for more longies, I picked up this scarf that I started last year. I remember I started it because I wanted to make something from Nancy Bush's then new lace book. I had two balls of Kidsilk Haze, and I figured I'd just make the scarf as long as I could with that much.



When I picked it back up, I was surprised to find that I was further along than I had remembered. For some reason I thought I remembered figuring that I could get 23 repeats into the scarf with the yarn I had. But that was a year ago, and my memory is sometimes very faulty (and also my math), so I disregarded that and knit until it looked like I had about enough yarn for the top edging, which was 24 repeats. Except of course I didn't have enough for the top edging. So I picked out the (sticky mohair) cast off on the bottom edging and ripped back a few rows, cast off again, knit a few more rows on the top edging to even it up, and cast off again. And I still barely had enough to get it done. I was literally cutting yarn tails off the dangling ends and splicing them into my cast off, and I still had to knit the last two stitches together to barely have enough to finish. I've never been so happy to throw something in a water bath and call it done.


Triinu Scarf, Nancy Bush, "Knitted Lace of Estonia"
Kidsilk Haze, Fern
US3 needles

Thankfully, the fuzzy mohair hides the many ends. I think it turned out lovely. And it's just the right length.

KnitaLongies

You know how you start knitting something and you just can't stop? At this point in the Longies Knitalong, we're supposed to be working on short rows and gussets. The timeline is slow going, because a lot of participants are new knitters and all have small children. I've knit three pair.


This pair, in Peace Fleece "Moscow Magic Pink", I knit in the medium size. The fit is about perfect, which means they'll be too small before long. In fact, the length is better with the cuff turned down. So for the rest I moved up to the large size and knit a 1.5" cuff that I can turn up for now.


Peace Fleece "Violet Vyehchyeerom"

I put the third pair ("Georgia Rose") on her today and thought we'd go for a walk and get some cute pictures, so I put her in the stroller instead of the carrier like I usually do so I could carry the camera around my neck.



She wasn't too impressed. We walked to the park and saw some geese.



She wasn't too impressed with that, either.



Life's tough when you're teething. Or maybe she just wants some mittens.

I think I can finish three more pair of longies before the knitalong is over, and then I'll make her a jacket from the leftovers. (Who needs to do housework when you can knit?) The yarn just came in the mail today!

Too much?

More little girl knits

I meant to be knitting something for me, right? Perhaps finishing up a 2 1/2 year old UFO? Well, I pulled that old thing out of the yarn closet, held up the front piece that I had finished oh, so long ago, and the thing darn near went down to my ankles. And I decided I didn't want a sweater quite that long. So if I was going to knit it, I'd have to start over. And if I was going to have to start over, why not do something new? But what? Well, I had to think about that. And while I was thinking, I figured I might as well be spinning. And I knew exactly what I wanted to make with the yarn I was spinning.


Ravelry

I split the roving (well, technically, the top) down into 20 or more pieces. Pencil roving, basically. And then I spun it into 450 yards of fingering/sport weight singles. What a lovely, quick way to get a finer gauge yarn! And the Corriedale was perfectly soft and happy to be airy singles. I just can't get enough of the colors. Adrian is a genius. They'll have to pry my fiber club membership out of my cold, dead hands.

For the dress, I started with the Little Sister's Dress pattern, but modified it a lot. Partly because my gauge was a little different.



I ended the yoke where it was supposed to be joined for knitting in the round, then knit 4 rows of stockinette on the front and back before increasing for the underarms, using the schematic and my gauge to calculate my numbers. Then I just increased every 7th row until desired length, which is longer than pattern calls for. I used one of her dresses as a template.

Oh, and the yoke and hem are in garter stitch. Because garter stitch makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

What next? I guess I'll just have to work on her longies while I think about that some more.

Perspective

Today, while waiting for the yarn I finished spinning yesterday (Hello Yarn "Thrive") to dry,


I pureed some peas for baby food,


And the pumpkins from this weekend for pie (she already has pumpkin baby food),


Toasted the seeds for snacks,


And washed some Rambouillet (again) for carding and spinning.


Now I have to unload/reload the dishwasher, snap the green beans for dinner (part of those might end up pureed for baby food as well), and put up the laundry.

Why do I always feel like I never get anything done?

Little girls need handspun sweaters.

When I said I was feeling overrun by projects, I wasn't just talking about knitting. My crafting world exploded this summer with lots of sewing, a little embroidery, some spinning, but very little knitting. It wasn't until a cold front came through last week that I really started to get the knitting bug again.

I started spinning up Spunky Club's January '09 fiber, Twilight superfine merino. It had all of these aquas and purples that I thought would match Eliza's fall/winter wardrobe well. I wanted to make longies, but I was afraid the superfine merino wouldn't hold up well. She will be crawling soon, after all. So I Navajo plied it for durability. I also tried to remember to spin a little finer than I normally would for a worsted-weight 3-ply, because merino tends to plump up on me when I finish it. Except this one didn't. I ended up with about 300 yards of sport-DK weight yarn. It still matched Eliza's clothes, though, so I went looking for a sweater pattern.

The Audrey Hoodie in Vintage Baby Knits was cute, and it looked like I had just about the right amount of yarn, so I cast on. It's knit up from the back, over the shoulder, and down the fronts. If you were to knit it in a solid color, you'd cut the yarn and knit one front and then the other. My handspun was stripy, though, and I wanted the fronts of the sleeves and the cardigan to match, so I put in a steek for the neck opening and another down the front of the cardigan.

As it turned out, I didn't have enough yarn for the hood. In fact, I barely had enough to trim around the front and hide my steeks, so the sleeves didn't get any crochet trim. Which is ok, because the sleeves are the perfect length as is.

I think I'm going to continue in the moss stitch tradition and pull out my oldest UFO, the first thing I ever blogged about, and finish it up. Mommy needs a cardigan for winter, too.

And of course, baby still needs some longies. If you have reason to knit little people pants, feel free to join us at the Eco Friendly Family Ravelry group for our longies knitalong, which begins this Saturday.

You can spot a knitter's baby anywhere.

And possibly a spinner's too.





See the hat and sweater on Ravelry. Can you believe she's 7 months old? I can't.

Does this mean I'm returning to blogging? I don't know. I'm crafting at a slower pace these days. Or at least finishing at a slower pace; I seem to be starting things at the same rate and then feeling overwhelmed.