there’s a box

There’s a large box to the right of my computer right now. Sealed. The return address is my yarn supplier. I know what’s in it, but I can’t go open it because I’ve got my own private wonder on my lap right now and I’d really rather not wake her up. Still, it’s hard to contain myself. A box. Containing mostly undyed cashmere. and some worsted weight I’d like to dye to make this, even though I’m working on this. That reminds me. Almost out of yarn for the second project there. Seriously, Madeline Tosh? How did I ever believe I could get away with using only one skein!

baby s and the sheep

It’s raining; it’s pouring.
The old man is snoring.
He went to bed with a bump on his head
And he won’t get up ’til morning.

That’s they way I remember it anyway.

Josh and I have been singing a lot to Baby S and every day there’s a new nursery rhyme I half-remember. What nursery rhymes do you still remember?

On Saturday we went to the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival.

This made me think of a few lists.

Things I got to see/do

• Several sheep and rabbits – We tried to show Sasha the sheep.
• The barn raising quilt by Larrisa Brown
• The parents of a member of the knitting group; and her little brother. Her Mom was buying her Blue Moon Socks That Rock, which was great.
• Show off Sasha to Tina and Donna (Tina definitely thought the baby was better than Sock Summit, which is great!)
• My first inflatable mannequin (which led me to a hilarious internet search while I tried to remember the correct search terms, starting with inflatable doll, moving to blow-up dummy and gradually getting to mannequins). I was wondering if they market inflatable legs, which would be a handy thing for sock yarn sales. Or I could make some out of plaster of paris if I happen to know anyone with mannequin shaped legs. I’ve got this plan to be a vendor at Black Sheep or Oregon Flock and Fiber next year.

• Buy some Blue Moon Fiber Arts; this is a ritual. This is when I learned that there won’t be a Barn Sale this year. I’m hoping for a party though. I should have realized that they are a bit burnt from this August.

500th post contest results

The winner of my 500th post contest is Kate A. (my condolences to all the other Kate and Katie’s I know who probably read the first four letters and got excited). There weren’t really any correct guesses; there was one, but I’d told that person, so that didn’t count. Good thing it was a random number generator contest. Kate A will receive a skein of hand-dyed yarn either from my Etsy shop or custom dyed for her in my newbase, Sheila’s Sock, a 100% merino superwash cabled-two ply fingering weight. Thanks everyone for playing. Now back to motherhood for a bit. Here is Sasha after a recent bath.

another bootie

I’m trying to see if I can get a pair of the other popular baby bootie on Ravelry: Saartje’s Booties. I’m using the ones done the Bockstar Way though, which involve quite a bit less sewing. I’m using a bit of my new colorway Poodle Skirts and Saddle Shoes. On the booties, it pools, but in the most delicious way with patches of pink or patches of black and white.  For whatever reason the second one is driving me crazy. I can’t seem to knit them when at group. I’ve never been very good at doing increase rounds and this is always compounded by distractions whether it be other people or television.

and now for something completely different

(with apologies to MP).

Today I did something a little differently than I have as of late. I read a book – Julie and Julia in fact. I heartily enjoy reading the occasional food related memoir. I haven’t been reading very much for the past 38 weeks or so, unless you can count the six or seven baby books we’ve been browsing our way through. As a blogger, I emphasized with a lot of the emotions that Julie must have been going through as she worked through her project. And it was lovely to sit down and read again. I was completely taken out of my head with her experiences; something that is lovely when you are 38 weeks pregnant and feeling larger than a house.If you want to read about what inspires bloggers to blog or to take on the projects they do, read Julie and Julia. If you want to read more about her adventures in cooking, than I refer you to her blog archives. I’ll be reading more of them and I expect that a short blog entry will be what my attention span while breastfeeding Sasha after she makes her debut.

Knitting, while it will always be one of my favorite passions, will never replace books for me as my first love. I learned how to read at a very early age (somewhere between 2 and 3) so I could be in the church choir and was instantly taken by the written word. I’ve read fewer books than I might have over the past few years that I’ve been blogging about knitting. Even fewer this last year with the pregnancy and the dyeing, especially if you discount the books on pregnancy and labor.

What’s worse, is I’ve been spending less time writing. I started the blog, believe it or not, to maintain and strengthen my writing skills during one of my hiatuses from paid work. The hope was and still is that someday I’ll kill my writers block sufficiently to write something else. Knitting is a great vehicle for me to focus on the craft of the writing without having to worry so much about the content. Unfortunately for the past couple of years or so, there less of a focus on the writing and and more on knitting and related crafts. Don’t get me wrong, I love the dyeing and the knitting, but it was always about the writing FIRST. I’ll still be dyeing and knitting for the time being, but hopefully this fall I’ll be able to bring a little more to you in terms of writing about the dyeing process.

In the meantime, please feast on Christine’s Stay On Baby Booties [r] by Christine Bourquin. They were knit with Three Fates Yarns Bluefaced Leciester Platinum Sock on Size US 1 needles. Thanks to my husband for the fabulous photographs. It’s 75% Superwash BFL and 25% Nylon and comes in 437 yard hanks that way approximately 100 grams. These were knit in my new Sock Summit inspired colorway, Aqua Vitae in the light version. The remainder of this skein (about 395 yards) can by found at my Etsy Shop, Three Fates Yarns at a discounted price for the yardage. I can only say that this was a fateful project I only did it since the skein broke on my new winder. Can you guess how much yarn was left over when I finished the booties from the lump I left off the finished product? About three inches.

finished objects

Well, the good thing about the crazy all over the place, non-focused, ADHD knitting I do is that sometimes multiple things get finished in the same week.
These are  Christine’s Stay On Baby Booties [r] I’ve got to go buy ribbons, but they are ready for being at the Sock Summit Booth (Knit A Bit, #808).

And this is Baby Mine by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, aka the Yarn Harlot. I think it would fit a 6 month old, not a 3 month old, but we’ll see. I’m hoping I can get it on her without it being too large around late October, early November. Pattern available from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. Size 4 US needles. Used 1 skein of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock medium weight in Moirae. Quick knit really. I finished the 80% of the yoke during a marathon 8 hr baby class – it was a make up session.

black sheep

When I went to Black Sheep, I checked out the prize winning table. There was a really really cute baby surprise there. I was looking at it and my name just popped off the tag. It turns out, three of my friends from Eugene got together and spun, dyed and knit it for the baby and then entered it into Black Sheep. It won first prize! I mean of course I examined it; it was a baby surprise! They gave it to me later, along with the ribbon, but it was a great surprise. It’s newborn sized, so I’ll be happy if she gets to wear it a few times in October. They suggested I try blocking the heck out of it. We do still have some colder days in Oregon though; Monday was one of them thank goodness. I’ve been melting down into various puddles   caused by heat stroke, hunger (I don’t eat enough when it’s hot I think) and hormones. One more H and well, a whole a of 4-H breastfeeding jokes would seem to be in order. Thank goodness the last factor is thirst and not heiferdom.

Also, I picked up this prettyness from Creatively Dyed. I was tempted by her luxury yarn base and by the one that’s like Wollmeise’s yarn base (I think it’s Steele), but in the end, I had to have this skein of Calypso in Annato. I’d oggled her yarn some while at Stitches West and it was either go after that or Miss Babs. Next time it will probably be Miss Babs unless I can make it to Sock Summit in person. I’m mildly concerened that fewer vendors will be at Oregon Flock and Fiber this year due to Sock Summit. I certainly hope it will be as vendorful as always.

some baby things

I started this project in the spring, but left it behind in San Francisco. It has recently come back to me. I panicked, thought I was knitting the newborn size, and began my attack. It turns out I’m knitting a 3 month size and it’s sized either generously or my loose knitting is showing. Probably the former rather than the latter. It’s Baby Mine by the Yarn Harlot and I’m knitting it in Socks That Rock medium weight in Moirae. What other spirit would I pick for the baby? I put the sleeves on some temporary needles and unfortunately they’ve come off a few times and will need some repair when I get to the yolk. For now though, I’ll leave them be.

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

i bought it

Well, I did it. I sucked it up and paid a small fortune to Crazy Monkey for a hand-cranked 2 yard skein winder with an electronic counter. I was sitting there and I timed how long it takes me to make a skein from a cone with my current set-up. I’m guessing 21 minutes. Granted, my time isn’t that valuable at the moment, but with the baby coming in 9 weeks give or take a few weeks, I’m starting to feel like I could be getting more done.

I’ve got 20+ skeins dyed up for sock summit. At the moment, I’m still planning on consigning with a local group, although I have my fingers slightly crossed and am hoping something else will turn up.

I’ve got 15 skeins more of ultra-merino and 3 kilos of BFL-nylon coming to the house next week and 3 lbs more of bamboo to dye. Lots of roving to dye left too. Some of this and most of the roving will probably go into the shop. My husband has been graciously mixing all solutions from powders so we can keep baby safe.

Still, I had a dyeing related accident of a sort on Monday night. It was related since I the reason I had wet hands and was in my basement was the roving. Anyway, I touched a lamp to turn it on and got an electric shock. I spent four hours at the local hospital being monitored for contractions and the baby’s heartbeat was also being monitored. I found her heartbeat very soothing. The long and the short of it is, baby is fine. My finger tips felt normalish after about 30 hours and all is well in the world.

round six and other updates

Last week I started Round 6 Joseph’s Blankie of Many Colors from Mason-Dixon Knitting. Currently this blanket is 26.5″ x 26″ or 689 square inches. According to the pattern for, the finished size is 47″ x 47″, or 2209 square inches, so I’m at 34%. More than half the yarn is left, but I wouldn’t say 66%. So I’ll see if I’ll be making a purchase at some point, or just make a smaller version.

little liza jane and a yarn crawl

This is the progress I’ve made on Little Liza Jane, which I’m making for my cousin. Her baby is due a couple of weeks before mine. I’m making the 6 mos. size for her. It will have to be worn over other clothes, since it will be cold out when her baby is the right size to wear it. I made kind of an ironic discovery, which is that the Cotlin feels a lot (to me) like Debbie Bliss’ Cathay yarn, although obviously without the slipperiness of the silk and rayon that’s in the Cathay. What’s ironic is that I have six skeins of the Cathay in an extremely similar color and another six skeins in orange.  I guess that just means I could make more dresses .

more squares

Here is some more progress on Babette. I guess I’m obsessed. I’m hoping the seams will disappear magically somehow in the wash. Getting those to disappear seems to be really hard, probably because it’s cotton. My ends of course have a way of coming back out. There are several square knots in here. I was taught not to do that. Then again, I was taught to work with wool.

something’s not right

I was sorry to learn that the toddler aged child of a friend of mine passed away suddenly the other night. He leaves behind his twin sister and his loving parents. Somehow this is all made more real by being pregnant or the pregnancy hormones. Or maybe just that its happened to a close friend. It really doesn’t matter how real this is to me. It just sucks and more to my friend and her husband than anyone else.

I vow to cherish every day I get with my own child. I try to use that as a calming thought. Stress is not great for baby.

On a more positive note, I’m going to Stitches West today and will spend the weekend hopefully soaking up happy vibes from knitters and the CA weather. Our rainy season finally seems to have made it here.

baby week

What I did this week was buy a new computer, set up a knitting group in Salem, OR, get past the halfway point on Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Baby Surprise from my copy of the all invaluable Knitter’s Workshop, and sew up the side-seams on the Baby Baseball Tee from Knit 2 Together that I finished knitting this past summer. I went to a spinning group where I repeatedly spun counter-clockwise (oops). I also wrote an oral and a written presentation about Veneta, OR, distributed flyers, attended a community gathering, showed my husband my second home and set off the alarm at work. What I did not do is finish a pair of socks. Good thing I have a couple of extra days to finish my monkey swap socks.

The EZ sweater isn’t due until March, but do you have any idea how hard this is to stop? Actually, it’s my knitting group project. I figure it’s the one thing I can work on and talk at the same time! Unfortunately, I think it will be done in a week or two (in two more meetings).

I’ve also wanted to be more disiplined about finishing projects I started, so I’m trying very hard to polish off anything that just needs a little help. Thus the side-seams on the Baby Baseball Tee. This project does not have a home as of yet, but I’m sure someone will turn up for it sometime. I just have to put on the baby bird buttons. You can see them here. The main thing I don’t like is that it’s not perfect. That’s the thing about knitting with cotton. Anything you do wrong, especially with color work shows!