Sandy Waves

We are only being brushed by Sandy's long fingers, and are thinking of those who's lives and homes are in her path.

Her winds are blowing up choppy waves here.  The Californian in me says "Pshaw, this is nothing."  But after living on Lake Michigan for 5 year, I know this is a rare sight.  Even more unusual is the sound.  How I miss the crash and roll of ocean waves.

I'm between knitting projects at the moment and have been pouring over Raverly for inspiration.  I'm in the mood for a shawl or scarf.  These are in my favorites now:

This, in cooler tones

Ruffles in green maybe?

This one, just the way it is.

Although this hat would be quick and warm too.

I picked up a patter for a Henley pullover for Craig at my LYS.  Not sure what I was thinking since it will be a lot of work with uncertain outcome.  Craig said he'd be happy with slippers.

Happy Halloween, I'll post pictures of the kids tomorrow!

October Sunrise

Craig took this picture at sunrise this morning because it reminded him of the sweater I'm knitting for Colton.  Sweet guy.

So without further ado - here is Colton's October Sunrise sweater.

Isn't he getting so big?  And his hair? Oh I love. But anyway back to the sweater.  I really like the way the striping turned out.  Although I must say it was tedious knitting at the end, all those small rounds for the arms and changing color every 22 stitches.  Can you tell I ran out of orange yarn at the end?!  I didn't have enough to finish the cuffs, so I had to improvise with the blue at the end.  

We're at the dunes at Lighthouse Beach this afternoon just before it started to rain.  I'd never been to the dunes in town before, tucked away between the lighthouse and the water.  Beautiful, don't you think?

Colt's Sweater - Take 1

I finished Colton's sweater this week, but it ended up being way, way too small for him.  Major bummer.  I made a mistake in my multiplication (I used the same method to make these vests two years ago) and ended up with a 6 month size instead of a 12 month size.  Luckily, I know a cute 6 month old who would love a fall sweater!

I have another one on the needles now, with a revised stitch count, for Colton.  Hopefully. And a revised row count for the yoke, so it doesn't look the arms coming out of the waist.

Thinking of names for the sweater.  Craig's vote is for Brunch at the Howard Johnson.  Any ideas?

Vitamin D

So do you remember when I started this sweater?  Like forever ago, right?  Well I finally finished  Heidi Kirrmaier's Vitamin D last week.  It is a lovely sweater.  I love the eyelet back.   I know the color will make me happy all winter long.  But right now all I can see are my mistakes.  You know, those mommy brain mistakes.  Like loosing count on the short rows  (I think I'm four rows short on the first set).  And like when I stopped knitting mid-row because nap time was over and then when I picked it up again, I started purling purls instead of knitting knits.  Twice!  (Does that even make sense?!)  The only thing to do is un-knit to the mistake and start again.  I'm sure that, like my February Lady Sweater, when I've had some time apart from it I will fall in love with it again.  When I can look past the small  mis-knits and wear it very happily.

In the meantime, here's a little peek at what I'm working on for Colton.

Audrey's Sweater

This morning I sewed two little toggle buttons to finish Audrey's Tiny Tea Leaves Cardi.  I'm really happy with how it turned out. I followed the pattern for the 4T size so it has a roomy fit and hope Audrey can wear it for a year or two.  The gathered rows at the top are both fun to knit and really pretty, I think. This was my first attempt at adding a button band, it turned out ok.  I used this yarn in Petal Shower.

My Vitamin D sweater is waiting for blocking and I've started a little orange something for Colton.  Updates to follow!

Weaving In

I am soclose to finishing two (TWO!) sweaters, one for Audrey and one for me.  Just in time too, as the temperature is dropping fast here.  Can't wait to show you!

Short rows

Three months into Vitamin Blue and its coming together.  I'm knitting short rows right now, 36 to be exact, so its hard to see the progress, but its there, I can feel it.   There has been plenty of un-knitting, let me tell you.  But I'm motivated to finish this so I can start on a little something for Audrey.   A sweet sweater I'd love for her to wear it this spring.  The yarn is pink and cream and was meant to be a baby blanket for Audrey, but, well, a sweater will be just as nice. 

I wanted to join Yarn Along today, but I am too embarrassed to share what I'm reading.  Its not Shades of Gray embarrassing, but still not exactly classic literature.   Oh well, what the heck, here it is:  The Alpine Vengeance - book V in an A-Z mystery series, kind of like  Murder, She Wrote for the Pacific Coast.  Oh boy,  I've read 22 books about Alpine and Emma Lord.  Sheesh, I must really like them!

Grandmother's knitting

My grandmother, Martha, knit this delicate little set for her youngest son, my Uncle Mark, for Easter in 1965.  This year Colton wore the sweater and shorts and how sweet do they look?  The shorts have thin bands of elastic running through the waist to keep them snug and little buttons around the neck.  Although Colton is a boy on the move these days and I couldn't quite get them fastened before he wriggled out of my arms. 

This is my mom's brother, at their grandmother's house in Pennsylvania. 

We had a lovely weekend, decorating and hunting for eggs.  My mom and I spent some quality time in the kitchen making a family feast.  Now she and my dad are out with Audrey exploring the botaic gardens. Colton is asleep, so the house is quiet and our DVR is full.  Have a happy Monday.

Grandmother's mittens

 My grandma, Martha, gave us a wonderful collection of kids mittens - mittens she knit for her own children. She made them when they lived in New York and my mom and her sisters spent the winter sledding and building snow forts. The family then moved to California with little need for mittens. Now we are in snow territory and although we didn't have much this year, I know Audrey and Colton will keep there fingers warm when sledding in years to come...made with love by their great-grandma.   

She had some advice for me if I ever made my own mittens: knit the cuffs a inch or two longer than the pattern calls for.  When she was a girl, sledding down the road in Pennsylvania, her arms would get chapped from snow sliding up her jacket.  The solution is to have a longer cuffs on your mittens!  It makes me smile to think of my grandma sledding.

Vitamin blue

So this post was supposed to be published last weekend, but it seems I am still learning the ins and outs of Blogger...so here it is today, a week late...but I'm still knitting, so it still works!

*****

I must have been dreaming of oceans and lakes and summer skies last weekend when I picked up 1400 yards of this blue beauty to start this sweater.  Brown had been the color this winter season and my eyes are thirsty for something refreshing.  I think this is doing the trick.  (Hard to believe we were still digging out of from this storm last year!)

Its just a little intimidating to see all this yarn waiting to stitched into something.  This is by far the most intricate pattern I've ever worked and on size 4 needles it is slow going.  But I am realizing that with knitting, as with many things, I love the process, not just the end result.  I didn't even mind unraveling a few rows to fix a mistake. 

I hope to make some substantial progress this week.  And with any luck the work will last until I can get my daily blue intake from warm skies and cool water.

Quick cowls for her

For my ladies on my list, I made these quickie cowls. 

I loved knitting these. The ridged lace pattern is so pretty and the edging adds a nice dimension. By the time I'd completed the first cowl, I had the pattern memorized and could pick my needles up whenever I could and know exactly where I was.

 I used a bunch of different chunky yarns.  The green is Misty Alpaca, the gray and purple are Plymouth Yarn Baby Alpaca, the pink are Cascade Alpaca.  I liked the Misty and Baby for this pattern, they were chunkier than the Cascade and showed the lace better.

 Surprise!  Flamingos!  In the snow!  (yes, they're for real)

Oh, those naughty stitches. They just jumped right off the needles!

 This is me, on the way to the airport, hoping to finish the last one.  It was close, but I made it.

Surprise!  A pine cone on our pine tree.

So those were my Christmas knits...simple and quick, but I hope warm and useful.  I'm feeling a little lost with out a project to work on.  That must mean I should start something new...maybe something from my grandmother's collection of Vogue Knitting circa 1960?   We shall see....

For him, felted

Around November 1st, I decided I would knit some of our Christmas gifts this year.  And right about November 5 I was asking myself if this was a good idea.   At first count, I planed to make two gifts...then three...then five.  The final number was nine. Nine!  Luckily the patterns I used were very simple and quick.  And it was nice to work with an end date in mind.  Every quiet moment  was spent knitting...just a few rows at a time...while nursing Colton...while singing to Audrey...while Craig played with both kids so I could knit.  It really was a family effort to complete them all.

For the guys, I made these felted slippers.  Very simple - just a rectangle sewn up. And very quick - on size 15 needles.  I made a few modifications:  I changed the toe closure and the dimensions for the extra, extra large feet in my family. 

The slippers are knit with two strands held together then felted, so they're super thick.  I'd never felted before and was pretty nervous putting wool in the washer on hot.  But I think everything turned out ok.

The pattern called to cinch the toe closed, like the slippers on the right, the first pair I made.  I ended up sewing the other three pairs like the ones on the left. 

I'd been wanting to knit some slippers for my dad since I learned to knit. I was inspired by the slippers my great-grandmother knit for my dad, we think possibly in the early 1990s.  I have looked at them many times hoping to be able to recreate them, but I was never able to.  

I hope my dad will be able to wear these slippers for as many years as he wore my great grandma's.

Next week I'll share the cowls I made for the ladies.