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Halloween mini-quilt! (no, it's not really crooked--I just somehow managed to take the picture at a bit of an angle). This is made up of 30 3" squares, the back is plain orange cotton, and I used purchased black quilt binding. I took the easy way out and my "quilting" is just machine stitching "in the ditch" with a black zig-zag. That's how I put the binding on as well. But I think it's appropriate for a Halloween mini-quilt! This is going in the mail to my mom.
posted by Stephanie at 3:11 PM

 

Here's a weird photo of Friday Harbor sock #1 on my arm (shut up. it seemed like a good idea at the time). At least you can kind of see the lace pattern and the great colors in this yarn (Mountain Colors Weavers Wool quarters in evergreen). After my sister tried on my first attempt, I made the following changes: (1) I knit the cuff with a size 4 needle (while the rest of the sock is knit on 3s). It was too tight on her calf. (2) I did my 'regular' toe (the round toe looked and felt wonky). I think this sock will be much better on her. I did start sock #2, but it won't be finished by the KAL 'deadline' of Friday. That's ok--these are a Christmas gift so when you look at it that way I have lots of time!
posted by Stephanie at 9:25 PM

 


Well, the Packers are 0-3. Sigh. But, there are no fair-weather fans here. No siree! Here's a picture of me, my mom, and Henry this past Sunday. It was pretty funny when on Saturday I was thinking of taking some photos like this and I asked my mom if she had brought along a Packer shirt. Heeheehaahaa, of course she had! And this gorgeous (Green Bay Packers) sock yarn is from Dani. Go check out the great yarn she has for sale, or ask for your own custom-dyed sock yarn!
posted by Stephanie at 2:59 PM

 


This month's Tie One On theme is dishtowel aprons. So, first I bought a cute fall-themed apron from Target with a corduroy pumpkin applique. Um, too bad the pumpkin was facing sideways when you tried to make it into an apron. Then I went to Walmart and bought this 2-pack of green and white dishtowels and decided to make aprons for my sister and her boyfriend. I also bought two packs of white twill tape for ties. The pockets are made from is some cute fabric I bought at Beverly's a while ago with my sister in mind. These will be a housewarming gift, as my sister and Jens recently bought a new house and they both love to garden and cook. The white one is for Jens because it's kind of like a 'tool belt'(that man loves him some tools and tool belts). I just mailed them off today so I hope they like them!
posted by Stephanie at 2:11 PM

 


posted by Stephanie at 3:37 PM

 

I love this! Don't these socks look great in this yarn? Pattern: feather and fan socks from Socks, Socks, Socks. Yarn: mainebearsox in sunflower from furryyarns.
posted by Stephanie at 3:28 PM

 

posted by Stephanie at 6:36 PM

 

Amble

Pattern: Amble by Alison Clayton for the six sox knitalong
Yarn: Dale baby Ull in pale yellow
Changes to pattern: I did one less pattern repeat on the leg and I didn't carry the pattern down the heel or foot. I felt that it was a bit lumpy and bumpy for inside a sock.
posted by Stephanie at 10:07 AM

 



Hand-knit sweetness

Well, it has cooled off a little bit here in San Diego (yay) and Henry is starting to grow into some of the beautiful hand-knit items sent by friends. Here, we have a pair of better than booties knit by Karen and a gorgeous autumn-colored sweater knit by Kristin.
posted by Stephanie at 9:55 AM

 


Yay me!

I finally finished the rest of the size small diapers I was making for Henry. You know when I started cutting out the fabric for these? The day my water broke. Yeah, in May. And here I thought I was way ahead of the game. I still had almost 8 weeks left until Henry was scheduled to arrive. I had finished a ton of newborn diapers and I was already working on the next size up! Heh. Then he arrived 3 days later and I had to think about making preemie sized diapers.

Anyway, these are all-in-ones. I wanted to use cute cotton fabric on the outside so I put a waterproof (PUL) layer underneath. The cute moose fabric is leftover from a shirt that Karen made for Henry. The green fabric with salt-n-pepper shakers is the Michael Miller fabric that I used to make my kitchen appliance covers. The blue winnie-the-pooh fabric is leftover from some baby jammies that I made for a friend. I found the cute navy batik fabric and Walmart and the red fish fabric is from some online store (don't remember). Of course, there's always some spare Green Bay Packers fabric lying around.

I should really get started on the ones in size medium...

posted by Stephanie at 4:04 PM

 
Random Friday stuff

• I did a really half-assed job of trying to update my blog for fall.
• Dani is going to custom-dye some Green Bay Packers sock yarn for me!
• I know ponchos are on the way out, but is it ok for me to still make this? I [heart] it.
• Campbell's Soup at Hand is a pretty good idea for new moms (you can eat lunch with only one hand)!
• Plans for the weekend--uh, go to the store and buy diapers and laundry soap, watch baseball, watch football, knit, sew (maybe), clean up the house a bit since my mom will be here on Tuesday, more walks with Henry in the stroller and Jackson on the leash.

posted by Stephanie at 1:56 PM

 

Mom's Socks

yarn: Opal Cotton Rodeo (48% cotton, 39% wool, 13% nylon). Color 1171
pattern: 64 sts on US1 needles. top-down with heel flap.
for: my mom!
posted by Stephanie at 9:57 AM

 
Socks-in-Progress Roundup

Just finished--Opal Cotton Rodeo socks for my mom. Photo tomorrow after I wash them.

Now--Amble sock #2. Just did the ribbing, now I need to start the leg.

Frog pond--Friday Harbor. I will redo these, only because I promised them to my sister!

On deck--
Feather & fan socks from Socks, Socks, Socks.
koigu Packer socks.
Socks from Melinda's handspun.
Christmas gifts (plain socks with patterning yarn), at least 2 pairs.
Falling leaves
posted by Stephanie at 8:36 AM

 


Did I mention that I love fall?? And I love football? Henry likes football too.
posted by Stephanie at 7:43 AM

 
Five things

Ten years ago: In 1995 I graduated from college, broke off an engagement, moved from Wisconsin to Louisiana, started graduate school, and started dating my (now) husband.
Five years ago: In 2000 I was living in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, working as a software engineer (!) and I was engaged to my (now) husband.
One year ago: I had just recently gotten fired (!) from a crappy (chemistry) job. Went to Burbank to be a knitster on Knitty Gritty.
Five snacks: fruit roll-ups, twinkies, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate
Five songs I know all the words to: ?
Five things I would do with $100 million: pay off all of our debts, buy DH a car, buy a house, give a million to my sister, give a million to my mom
Five places to run away to: Northern Wisconsin, Kauai, San Antonio, New Orleans (well, before...), Pensacola
Five things I would never wear: miniskirt, tube top, stilettos, buttcrack-showing jeans, thong
Five favorite TV shows: NFL Primetime, The Simpsons, Law & Order CI, Packer games, Padres games
Five biggest joys: My family, Packer games, MEOW knitting retreats, crafting, holidays!
Five favorite toys: sewing machine, knitting needles, yarn, tv, oven
Five people to pass this on to: Oh boy...who wants it. I've seen this meme out there alot...so if you haven't got it yet...consider yourself tagged!
posted by Stephanie at 7:37 AM

 


Karen sent Henry this adorable hat from her store (along with lots of other goodies). It's obviously a bit big on him, but that's cuz I want it to fit him when we go to Wisconsin this winter. Cuuuuuuuute, no?

Knitting news. Yesterday afternoon I did my knitting at Starbucks thing (duh, I couldn't go today cuz there's football). I was working on the never-ending feather and fan baby blanket and I came to a decision. I'm going to finish off the pattern as written and then block it and see how big it is. If it's too small I will knit on some sort of edging. Right now I'm at over 400 stitches and I'm getting really bored.

I finished one amble sock from the six socks knitalong and cast on the second one. I've decided that these will most likely be a Christmas gift since they are really nice, but a bit too small for me. I still need to frog and re-do my Friday Harbor socks, finish the Opal rodeo cotton socks for my mom (she arrives on the 20th, yay!), and I'd like to start the feather and fan socks from socks, socks, socks (yes, I joined the knitalong for that too). I will also try to knit several more sets of booties for the preemie project.
posted by Stephanie at 7:36 AM

 
Pumpkin Push 2005

The preemie project is making halloween-themed hats, bootees, and blankets for the babies to have during the week of Halloween. So far I made 3 large blankets, 3 small blankets, 2 sets of bootees, and 6 hats




and while I was at it, I also made a blankie for Henry

posted by Stephanie at 8:59 AM

 

Random thoughts

Here are some of the baby blankets I made for the preemie project. I mailed off 8 today and I still have 5 more for the next donation. They are either fleece or flannel, in the 30-36 inch square size range.

The new knitty is up and I really like some of the patterns. I just printed out bubby and samus. Now to find some knitting time.

Just in case you didn't already know, here's the link to give a little (knitters raising money for the red cross Katrina fund and donating/getting great prizes along the way). In addition, June is selling her beautiful handspun yarn and donating 100% of the proceeds to the Mercy fund. Finally, here's one list of places that are accepting actual things. I just sent a big box of baby stuff off to Baton Rouge.

Hurrah! Football season starts today.

Today Henry is 2 months adjusted age!

posted by Stephanie at 2:28 PM

 

Most of the crafting I've been doing lately has been for the preemie project. It's a group of volunteers who knit, sew, or crochet booties, hats, and blankets for premature babies in hospital NICUs. Of course this is the kind of project that means a lot to me since Henry was a preemie and spent 2 weeks in the NICU at UCSD. While he was there he actually received a quilt and a hat and bootie set that were made by kind volunteers. I can tell you that it really does mean a lot--it's nice to see anything that makes you and your baby feel more "at home" in such a scary, sterile environment. They are actually very practical items as well--they need to wear hats at all times to help keep in their body heat and the quilt was used over his crib (once he was moved from an isolette) to shield his eyes from the light. Here's a pic of Henry wearing the hat knit by a volunteer.

So, if you ever want to make a hat, booties, or blankie for a preemie, check out the preemie project. They are always looking for donations of supplies as well--like fleece or flannel fabric, or soft baby yarn.

[Note that the blanket in the above photo was made by Karen of phibetababy. I put a button and link on my left sidebar. p.s. Vickie, look at this]!
posted by Stephanie at 8:24 AM

 
Check out the multi-talented Karen's new store--PhiBetaBaby! Order in the month of September and use the code SEPT10 to get 10% off.
posted by Stephanie at 9:16 AM

 




New diapers and Packer yarn

Since I've had some help with Henry over the past several weeks (thank you Karen and Kerri!), I managed to sew some new (bigger!) diapers. Here are six new flannel fitted diapers. I used the very baby diaper pattern, flannel for the outside, cotton sherpa for the inside, and burley knit terry for the hidden soaker layers (3). They also have aplix closures and elastic around the legs and back. These are the size small.

And looky what I got from Patternworks--Packer yarn (and some patterns)! Green and gold koigu to make Packer socks for me and green and gold cascade 220 to make a Packer soaker for Henry. Go Packers!
posted by Stephanie at 9:38 AM