Warm Sweater for a Cold Schoolroom

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Continuing with the “Hey, I can make clothes!” theme, here is Bluebird’s new sweater for the winter.  She picked out the colors and requested the hearts along the bottom.

Pattern:  Knitting Pure & Simple #293 Child’s V Neck Down Pullover, by Diane Soucy.
Yarn:  Plymouth Yarn Galway Worsted, Colors #135, #127 & #8.
Needles:  US 6 & US 4.
Modifications:  When picking up the stitches for the armholes, I did a K2tog at the beginning.

I knit up the gauge swatch during the last little bit of our trip home from Alberta and have since been steadily working on this sweater and only the sweater.  I stalled out when it came to knitting up the sleeves, but that’s just something I always do when making anything with sleeves.  I have to waste a week worrying about making the sleeves before going forward.  Every.  single.  time.

I ran into a problem with knitting monogamy about a week ago and seriously considered putting the sweater in the back of the closet and casting on for something quicker and more fun, but after two days of not being able to settle on a new “quick and fun” project, I hunkered down and knit on through the finish.  I’m glad I persevered.

Bluebird, who has a reputation for being a tad lackluster in her reception of handmade goodies, has surprised me with her adoration of her new sweater.  We’re experiencing 80 degree (F) weather here, and when I presented her with the sweater she threw it on and wore it for the rest of the day, despite repeated inquiries about whether or not she was getting too warm.  After today’s photo shoot, she refused to take off her sweater until I noticed that she was sweating, after which I demanded she take the thing off.

I’ve had a bit of mental anguish over the creation of this sweater.  Wool ain’t cheap and knitting ain’t quick.  I’m a homeschooling mother of four, and you can imagine how much excess money and time I (do not) possess. 

However, I really wanted to make this sweater for my girl.  I’ve spent the past seven years honing this skill and all I have to show for it are hats and scarves and a few shawls.  I was ready to venture into the land of sweater knitting and use my creativity to bless my family in practical ways.  Penguin and Junebug jumped on the “Knit Me a Sweater” bandwagon when they saw I was making one for Bluebird, so I have two more sweaters to make before winter sets in…and I’m obnoxiously excited about knitting them.

When I am knitting, I sometimes feel a little guilty for embarking on projects that take up so much of my time.  Really, I could go to a clothing store and buy a sweater, which would take tons less of my time and cost me about the same amount of money.  But there’s something about making something rather than buying it that fills me with a deep sense of satisfaction.

I figure that anything that helps to make me feel good about myself is definitely worth pursuing, so swathing my family is handknits isn’t a waste but an investment.  Each day Bluebird wears this sweater I will feel proud of myself and she will feel loved because I let her pick the colors and then spent all that time making something for her.  If it was a sweater from the store, that positive emotional boost would not happen.

This sweater is meant for wearing throughout the coming winter as we embark upon our first year of homeschooling in our new schoolroom in the basement.  The coolness of the basement has been a blessing throughout this summer quarter, but will soon become a point of complaint as we move into the autumn and winter months.  It is my hope that Bluebird will feel warmed by my efforts to craft this sweater for her, just as I hope someday that her heart will be warmed by my efforts to craft her education.

Great Basin Fiber Arts Festival

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I have been wanting to attend this festival for years upon years now, but something always came up that made it so I couldn’t go.  I wasn’t planning on going this year, but I woke up that Saturday morning and found that my afternoon was completely open.  Bluebird and Penguin had an Ice Cream Social to attend at church, and when it was over we drove on up to South Jordan to partake of some fibery eye candy.

A lady at the festival was kind enough to allow Bluebird and Penguin to pedal on her spinning wheel.  (Bluebird asked when she could have some fiber to actually spin.)  I only have a drop spindle at home, which impedes my spinning speed.  Someday I’d like to have a wheel, but I have to always decide between food, school supplies and hobbies.  Responsibility can be such a downer sometimes.

Penguin thought all the fiber batts should be called “snakes,” and would try to bite me with them.  I wish I had my camera ready when picked up a batt of silk blend, stopped short and exclaimed, “Hey, this snake is smoother than the others!”
Penguin fell in love with this crazy handspun yarn, I wish I could have bought it and make a funky little hat for her!  She already has three hats though, so it would kind of be a waste of time and money.  Perhaps I can interest her in spinning in the future by showing her this picture and telling her that she can create her own yarn just like it!

Bluebird was completely floored that you could make yarn with gold in it!

Stitch markers.  I thought they looked pretty on their black background.

Stitch markers that Bluebird tried to talk me into buying for her.  The lady manning the booth informed Bluebird that “stitch marker collections” were really fun.  I informed Bluebird that stitch marker collections are even more fun when you actually use the stitch markers for knitting, and when I see her knitting on a regular basis that I will consider allowing her to start a stitch marker collection.  I always get to be the bad guy.  😉

Locks for spinning.  Oh, I wish I had more time for spinning, there are so many fun yarns one could make on their own!

Lots of hand-dyed batts.  Someday…someday.

Sample yarn from the festival.  Bluebird named hers “Midnight” and Penguin named hers “Ocean.”  It’s funny when they lose them around the house because you’ll hear a voice squeal, “Oh no!  Ocean!  Where’s my Ocean?!?!”  Perhaps we can eek some doll hats out of the teeny skeins.

It was a fun little trip that allowed me to meander with my girls for an hour.  However, I might go by myself next year, as they meander faster than me.

Pembroke Sweater Vest for Monkeyboy

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Wow, look at that, I can knit actual clothes!

Pattern:  Pembroke Vest, by Kirsten Kapur (free!)
Yarn:  Cascade Yarns 220 Superwash Paints in colorway #9997 “Juniper Berries.”
Needles:  US 3 & 5
Modifications:  I mirrored the cables instead of having them all twist the same way as written in the pattern.

When I gave birth to Monkeyboy and found out he was a boy, this pattern (along with Roar!) went into my queue as soon as I got home from the hospital.

It has been sitting in the queue for over a year, mostly because I was a little afraid to take on something of this magnitude.  (In case you haven’t noticed, I’m more of an “accessory knitter.”  I haven’t had much luck with my attempts to create actual clothing.)

Michael even encouraged me not to give this a go, stating that it was a whole lot of work for something that our boy would only wear for a short time.  I agreed with the logic of his observation and pushed aside all thoughts of casting on for the vest.

However, the vest kept taunting me.  I’d see other people finish their own vests for special boy tots in their lives and I loved each new creation!  I remained firm in my resolve, no matter how many cute Pembrokes popped up on Ravelry, I was going to be smart and not put my time into something that would be used for such a short amount of time.

My resolve dissolved completely during my second class for the Rock Island Shawl at Blazing Needles.  I saw the most beautiful variegated colorway of yarn and it screamed at me: “Make me into a Pembroke Vest for your son!”  I immediately purchased three skeins of the magical color and dashed away from the shop amidst “colorway coveting” from fellow shawl class participants.  We knitters are such enablers!

And once Rock Island was finished, I wound up those three skeins and went to town.  The majority of this was knit on our trip to Alberta.  I had only finished a few rows before starting the trip, and had completed everything except the last few rows of the neckline ribbing by the time we returned home. 

I enjoyed knitting this up very much.  I love to cable!  It’s so simple to do and produces such complex-looking results.  I feel like a knitting genius each time I cross stitches against each other.  The entertainment value of cabling is high for me.

This vest was originally slated to be one of Monkeyboy’s church outfits for the winter, but I’m loving it so much that I may just deem it an everyday outfit because he’ll get a lot more wear out of it in the weekly “everyday clothing” rotation rather than the twice-monthly “church outfit” rotation.  (I’ll just buy him another dress shirt and he’ll be fine in the church clothes category.)

So pleased!  🙂

Rock Island Shawl

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Pattern:  Rock Island Shawl by Jared Flood
Yarn:  KnitPick’s Shadow Kettle-Dyed in “Jay” colorway  (a birthday gift from the lovely Kirstin)
Needles:  US 6–29″ circular

This week in Utah we celebrated Pioneer Day, a state-wide holiday that commemorates the anniversary of Brigham Young and the first wagonload of Latter-day Saints entering the Salt Lake Valley after their long journey across the American Plains.  We didn’t have any school that day in observance of the holiday, and I figured that it was probably going to be my only chance at getting this shawl blocked.  After getting all the munchkins fed and dressed and starting up the ravenous washing machine, I soaked this puppy up and pinned the life out of it on my mattress.

This is a rather new pattern, only coming out this spring.  I saw it within the first few days of its release and I could not stop talking about it afterwards.  I had to have it.  However, I was heavily-entrenched in the creation of The Wedding Honeymoon Shawl, and could not squeeze this fabulous make into my queue.  Fortune smiled her loving gaze upon me and inspired the folks at Blazing Needles to offer a class on this very pattern, for which Kit and I signed up to attend.

I’m quite pleased with it!  Jared Flood loves knitters, the design of this is just lovely!  This was the first time I’ve ever attached an edging and it was super simple, given the YO edges on the entire length of the edging.  And it’s all done in garter stitch, no purling whatsoever!  AND it’s worked from the bottom up–that’s right, it gets smaller as you go!

The parts that were not my favorites:

  1. Edgings are nice and all, but this one took forever to make.  Since I had to have the edging done within two weeks before the start of my next class, it was very stressful for me to knit like a maniac for that entire two weeks.  Had I done this at my own pace, I don’t think the edging would have bothered me as much.  (But, hey, I finished the edging in two weeks!  Who can hold a grudge against that?)
  2. Garter stitch is easy, but also pretty boring.  There’s a lot of garter stitch at the end and it drove me a little bonkers, but it blocked out prettily and I’m over the negativity now.

This shawl was originally “ordered” in white.  It was supposed to be the replacement Wedding Shawl for Carly after she picked out a new wedding dress.  However, I couldn’t find any white lace-weight locally (and still haven’t found any since!) and so I went ahead and made this in its originally-intended color.

When and where am I going to wear this?  I dunno.  I’m sure I’ll think of something.  It would be criminal to just let this beauty sit around in my closet!

First Pair of Knitted Socks Ever.

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Pattern:  #216 Beginner’s Lightweight Socks, by Diane Soucy
Yarn:  Misti Alpaca’s Hand Paint Sock Yarn, Colorway #08 “Marino.”
Needles:  US 2 DPN

Oh, the high of finishing your first pair of hand-knit socks!

In Knitter World, socks seem to be one of those projects that you have to try.  A true knitter doesn’t NOT knit socks.  But all that jargon–gussets, heel flaps, insteps–has intimidated me for years and I have only looked on wistfully at other knitters’ beautifully-crafted foot encasements.

“Someday,” I would say, “after I’m finished with my current project, I’m going to give socks a go.”

But “Someday” kept getting pushed back in favor of projects that had to be finished immediately.

I bought the yarn for these socks in September of 2009, after lamenting about my sock fears to an understanding yarn shop owner.  She placed a beginner’s sock pattern in my hands and inflated my knitting confidences with assurances of socks “being super easy” and sent me on my merry way, only pausing to swipe the ol’ debit card to pay her for her enabling guidance.

The yarn is lovely.  It’s alpaca, merino and silk, with a little nylon thrown in for strength.  Wearing these socks is like walking on kitten tummies.  Oh, the deliciousness of the feel!

I should have knit these on US 1 sized needles.  They’re a touch baggy.  (That’s what you get for not doing a gauge swatch!)  But I love them anyway.  I’m now on the hunt for some sort of shoe that will frame my beautiful socks this autumn.  And I’m always on the hunt for some more gorgeous sock yarn!  (Curse you, Budget!)

A pair of handknit dress socks will soon be in-the-works for Michael.  Yay for socks!

Makin’ Jam!

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I am having so much fun with Bluebird as she gets older and is able to assist me in more and more tasks.  Yesterday we tackled some jam-making, preparing a batch of spiced peach butter and a batch of cherry jam.  She loved helping me out and proved to be quite valuable in her assistance.  Many hands make light work, even when the second set of hands measure about half the size of your own hands!

She can peel peaches, stir jam, ladle jam into jars and pit cherries like a pro!

Her favorite parts of making jam were peeling the peaches and pitting the cherries.

In between performing her jam-making duties, she did schoolwork at the kitchen table.  Win-win all around!



Peeling peaches…all I had to slice them up because she was so quick!



She pitted four pounds of cherries all by herself!
She’s the most conscientious cherry pitter I’ve ever met,
checking each individual cherry for residual pits.



Ladling the peach butter into jars.
It was such a nice way to spend time together!



Fourth of July Jell-O!

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Bluebird is working on the requirements for the Brownie Girl Scout “Wave the Flag” badge, and one of the things she could do was hold a celebration for a patriotic holiday.  Naturally, she chose to throw an Independence Day party.  She kept herself and her sisters busy for the two weeks leading up to the 4th making decorations (which they never hung up) and decided on a menu (Cookies and Lemonade Water).

I stepped in to help with the menu, and while we were browsing for dessert ideas, we came across a recipe for Layered Jell-O, which I’ve been searching for for years!  A link at the end of the Layered Jell-O post led us to the recipe for “Broken Glass Jell-O,” which Bluebird thought would be smashing (hee hee) in Fourth of July colors.

Bluebird attended her dessert-making responsibilities well: she cut up the colors, mixed them together and supervised my pouring of the white liquid into the dish.

The Jell-O went into the refrigerator to set, and the dessert was met with rave reviews at our little holiday dinner:

Good job Bluebird!  Thanks for making our Fourth of July dinner extra special!

Cherry Blossom Blanket

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We are awaiting a new little addition that will arrive this summer for one of Michael’s brothers (and his wife, obviously) and I simply adore making baby things, so I volunteered to make a blanket for the wee princess.  I saw this pattern and color scheme used in a handmade purse and have been biding my time until I could finally use the combination for a project.

Details
Pattern:  African Flower Hexagon, by Lounette Fourie & Anita Rossouw (Sarie Magazine July 2009)
The edging is #250 “Coming Up Shells” out of 280 Crochet Shell Patterns by Darla Sims.  I figured out the half motifs through trial and error.
Yarn:  Red Heart Super Saver Solids in 0724 Baby Pink, 0774 Lt. Raspberry, 0378 Claret & 0505 Aruba Sea; Caron Simply Soft in 0003 Pistachio.

Hook:  G (4.0 mm) on the Caron Simply Soft & H (5.0 mm) on the RHSS.

Thank you Junebug, for “taking pictures with the blanket.”
(She was overjoyed to help model this finished project, as Bluebird is my usual go-to for photos.  I think Junebug has earned herself a permanent place in my arsenal of models.)

Click here for this project’s Ravelry Page.

Finished: The Wedding Shawl

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Pattern:  Echo Flower Shawl, by Jenny Johnson Johnen

Yarn:  JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk 2/18, less than one skein

Needles: AddiTurbo Lace US 4 (3.5 mm) 24″

Oh, the magic of blocking.  In the previous post I showed how teeny tiny this was when it came off the needles…it barely covered Bluebird’s shoulders.  But, after blocking, it easily covers her armspan.  Lace is so weird that way.

So now I will wrap this little beauty up and send it on its merry way up north to the bride-to-be.  (This seems rather anti-climatic, given the amount of energy and thought that has been wrapped up in this project over the past few months!)

I’m so badly bitten by the lace bug.  Nothing else seems remotely interesting besides lace!  I like knitting nupps (the little balls) a lot…I think they’re rather pretty in the design.

I’m very happy with how this turned out!  I hope Carly is pleased with it as well and that, should the weather require its use, it looks beautiful with her wedding dress.  It makes me so happy to have rendered this little bit of knitting service to my future sister-in-law!  Wear it often, wear it boldly!

There were requests for a post about blocking…I don’t know when I’ll have time for that, so here’s a post from the Yarn Harlot that covers blocking in-depth.  (She used string for the straight edge, I used blocking wires.)