Momma and Baby Knit Monsters

I was just about to start writing this post, and as some reconnaissance, I casually asked my daughter if she had a name for her knit monster toys. She told me no, and that she "didn't necessary like them that much." Ahhh, the fickleness of four year olds. And here I was, all prepared to rave about how much she loved these monsters. 

Direct quote after asking her about her monsters, "I'm getting super mad at you for not letting me [eat] anything." I'm sure I seem like the most horrible mother ever, making her wait 10 minutes to eat until dinner is ready. So, her dislike might have been influenced by her rumbling tummy and my horrible mommy meanness.

I love these monsters. If she doesn't like them anymore, I will start sleeping with them at night. I went to five different fabric stores looking for real wool felt to make their mouths. I carefully selected the yarn. I agonized over what type of eyes to use. I even had to use double pointed needles! Heck, I may even change out the yellow in my gray and yellow bedroom to pink and green to match, I'm so darn fond of these little monsters.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Grace Lace Beret

I knit this Grace Lace Beret to escape the deep, dark abyss I feel into when I graduated from college in December. The name of this abyss is "what in the heck am I going to do with this degree and therefore the rest of my life besides being a wife and mother which is awesome and all but not the whole sum of my existence because I'd really like to do things in addition to being a good wife and mother because most days kids make me want to eat my fingernails and bend my brain into itself except when they are being totally adorable and drawing cute pictures of flamingos (see exhibit A)?" This question is much too large, even for my newly enlarged, degreed brain. So, I quite naturally fell to knitting to ease my mind of such weighty questions. I knit a lot in January. A lot.

 Exhibit A (Courtesy of Aubrey)

I knit it twice. Because I am a contradiction. I hate figuring out gauge. I would rather guess. I know enough about the way I knit and crochet to know that I have a very tight gauge. So, I guess. Educatedly.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Tutorial: Cable Knit Pillow

I am now the proud owner of TWO throw pillows. It's hard to believe that I have reached such a high number; I have managed to accomplish this feat in the short time period of nearly ten years of marriage.

All last week I spent knitting. After a particularly long day of knitting, every time I closed my eyes, I literally would see cables floating in front of my eyelids. It's not that it really took that long to knit; it's that I was making my own pattern. I also had an insert I was trying to match, so it had to be the exact right size. That's pretty much a recipe for frogging. A lot. I also have a beautiful new washcloth when I completely finished a front that ended up being too small.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Knitted Cowl

My husband has a gift for gifts. I'm starting to get a bit worried he can read minds. I'm fairly sure he doesn't sparkle in sunlight or thirst for my blood, but the mind reading--I have my doubts.

I am the opposite. I wander around stores and have no clue what to get anyone. I prefer to give hand made gifts, but that is tricky. You generally have to know someone really well to know if they will appreciate a hand-made gift.

So, when I wanted to get a friend a gift this week for her birthday, I was hoping that she would like this knitted cowl.

Yeah, I wore it. But only for a second to sew the buttons on the right place and to take these pictures. I used this awesome pattern, and I want to make myself one for sure. I have a thing for cowls. It knitted up quickly, probably six or seven hours and it was easy to follow (if  you've never tried cables, this would be an easy first project). I adore the cables and the seed stitch in the middle.

I think it was a success as a gift. I adore my friend, so I hope she feels that every time she wears it.

(Update: the site where I got the pattern appears to have been taken down, and I can't find a link to the pattern anywhere. Bummer. Raverly.com has some similar patterns if you're on the hunt for one.)

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Knitting Isn't Just for Grannies--Speech

I'm sorta nervous to post this.

Weird, I know. I basically put myself out here on my blog all the time. I mean, I talk about my toenails and the fact that I've been diagnosed bipolar II and all of that, yet posting this school assignment is giving me butterflies.

Perhaps it's because I talk about the blog in it? So, it's like a blog/speech time continuum loop. I'm pretty proud of the blog and I love interacting with my lovely readers. It's a privilege to know you--it means so much to me to get to know some of you. I love my little piece of the crafting world. It's brought me some of my best friends.

Anyway, here's my first speech from my public speaking class. I got 39/40 on it. It's far from perfect, but I'm still pretty proud of it. Also, I'm a goof ball. And I'm a nerd. Just so there isn't any confusion. Oh, and I totally left it out, but the Craft Yarn Council found in 2004 that 36% of women in the US know how to knit. How awesome is that! Somehow I forgot to say that and I was not about to record the whole thing again.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Share-A-Craft: Knit Shrug--Gaia Pattern

Share-A-Craft is just as much fun as a tilt-a-whirl, but with less stomach upset and possible vomiting. Every Monday, I post a project of any type that I've recently or not so recently done. If you want to share right back, I'd love to see what you've been making.

I think when I was looking for a pattern to knit a shrug, I looked through all of Ravelry's 1464 shrug patterns, looking for the perfect one to go over my dress for the formal dinner on the cruise (hey, I don't get to dress up much, so I went all out). I finally settled on this pattern, Gaia. I'm not really a fan of paying for patterns, but this one was only $3.00 and I really loved it. It's pretty ingenious and very easy to knit. All you need to know is knit and purl and how to knit in a straight line--there is also a little crochet to do the edge, but you can skip that and still get a very similar effect. The cool part is how it's put together.

I made mine out of llama/silk and mohair/silk blends. I actually went to a real yarn store and bought good yarn and I'm so glad I did. Not only does it look good, but it feels so soft. I spent $37 on the yarn, but I have some leftover. I probably have enough to do a hat, so cost-wise, it's not too bad. I think I spent four or five hours knitting it. It's a very loose knit, so it goes quickly, but you have to knit quite the length (40" or so depending on your measurements!).

I wish I had stretched the back a little more as I'd sewn the "sleeves" because I'd like a little more coverage in the arms, but I love the way the back looks. I also didn't do a lot of blocking, because it's a very loose knit I didn't want my skin to start showing through too much.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Share-A-Craft: Bubblegum Hoodie

Share-A-Craft is just as much fun as a tilt-a-whirl, but with less stomach upset and possible vomiting. Every Monday, I post a project of any type that I've recently or not so recently done. If you want to share right back, I'd love to see what you've been making.

When I made this project, I thought I was making a hoodie dress. I was knitting at my sister's house for craft night, so I didn't have Aubrey in the vicinity. I was also making up the pattern as I went along. When I thought it was long enough, I started making the sleeves and that kind of thing. Aubrey is taller than I thought. She's entirely too old. So, this is more like a long shirt, but I think it turned out pretty cute anyway.I love it layered over a shirt for winter weather, and it's a good transitional piece for spring, whenever she decides to show her face. Because I'm pretty sick of winter and winter colds and winter snow and winter frost and winter sidewalks and winter mud. It's finally into March, so maybe in a few more weeks we can ditch the heavy coats.

It's made from cheapy, super-bulky yarn. I would love to try this again in a nicer yarn, and make a hood a bit bigger too, but overall, I think it's pretty darn cute.So is Aubriana; therefore, I must put up way more pictures than is really needed for this type of project. It's the law. The law of the cuteness.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Share-A-Craft: Cabled Purse

Share-A-Craft is just as much fun as a tilt-a-whirl, but with less stomach upset and possible vomiting. Every Monday, I post a project of any type that I've recently or not so recently done. If you want to share right back, I'd love to see what you've been making.

I was so super excited to try this purse. I found the pattern on ravelry.com, and just fell in love with it. It is beautiful. Beautiful. It's the type of project that I look at and can't believe I really made it. Here's a link to the pattern: Bag with Cables.I used four skeins of yarn, some cheap-o Caron stuff and I could have made another 1/2 purse with what I had left over. It calls for bulky yarn, but I used two strands held together.

You also do them on 5mm needles, which is insane. It is very tight and hurt my hands to do too much at once, but martyr to my craft, I just put up with the aching hands. It doesn't say the length of circular needles needed, so I started out on the 16" ones, which was fine until I got to those crazy increases. I switched over to longer needles after that and switched back to 16" to do the garter stitch at the top.The handles I purchased at Hancock. The lining for the inside is some quilting fabric. Total, I probably spent around $25 for the whole project, although I don't keep careful track and I don't count it if I have leftovers, since I can use them for other projects. I had buttons left over and a lot of yarn, which I used to make two more hats. As far as time goes, I probably spent about 8 hours (just a guess) knitting it, it was slow because of the difficulty of the thick yarn and small needles, and a few more sewing the lining.The pattern itself I didn't find too hard to follow, despite this being my first time doing cables. After a few rounds, I got very, very bored. There are 22 cable repeats. I was also confused for a bit, because the chart is called M1 in the pattern and that also means "make one" in knitting abbreviations, but once I figured that out, it was pretty easy. I also didn't do the button holes, instead opting for a magnetic purse closure with covered buttons hot glued to the outside.I maybe would make this again, but I'd have to be on a long car trip or something else when being bored wouldn't be too bad a liability, but I adore the purse with the devotion in my little craft-loving heart, so maybe someday. . .

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

A Hat and a Shawl

I have a few more yarn projects to show you. I really should post some more variety, but besides school, it's all I've been doing lately.

I made Maxton a hat from this pattern, Knotty but Nice. I made a few mistakes and even dropped a few stitches, which I've never done before. However, you can't really tell so I didn't frog back. This is my 2nd cabled project. My first is mostly done, just waiting for some fabric flowers before I show it off.

I pretty much followed the pattern until the decreases, which I did a little differently. Maxton loves it and thinks its soft, even though it's wool, which is pretty much a miracle.



My 2nd project is a small shawl, which I like to wrap around my neck, sort of cowl style. It's crochet, which was a fun diversion from all the knitting I've been doing, and it is based on this pattern, My Blue Jeans Shawl. I had a terrible time interpreting the written pattern, because I would always forget where I was in the sequence, so I charted this one out too, with a few small changes. I'm sharing the chart with you, in case anyone wants to try it. You can add as many pattern repeats as you want.

Incidentally, I love the first picture. I think it's my new favorite shot of myself (Thanks, Mom!). I've been slowly loosing weight a bit, so it's nice to see my face a little leaner. The brooch is one I inherited from my Grandma Jensen and I finally figured out how to wear it, which makes me happy.

 

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Um, yeah, another knit hat

I might have been neglecting some other things I'm supposed to be doing to do more knitting. I don't have a project lined up, so maybe I will take a break and finish a kit or something.

I had to show you my most recent hat. I love the swirly design. I got the pattern from a blog (Hurricane Hat Pattern), and it is so fab! Love it. I was a little worried, because I haven't done too much knitting from other people's patterns, but I'm slowly learning to read them. It was tough, because I added the stripes. I started out with just the pink wool, but then it looked like cheap acrylic yarn and I got confused on a few stitches, so I decided to frog it back to the ribbing and try it with the stripes. That was David's brilliant suggestion and I adore the way it turned out. It's a bit of a challenging pattern, because it is not at all forgiving. You have to make each stitch perfectly, or it's going to show up. I wish the pictures showed it a bit more, but the purl stitches in the middle of the gray stripe continue in a swirling pattern to the center. After a few lesser frogging episodes (you know, taking out two or three inches instead of 5), I finally finished. I'm happy I will have a hat I made myself to wear on the way taking the kids to school--it is very cold at 8:00 in the morning, but I don't think I'm going to be repeating this pattern again anytime soon.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Finally, Some Pictures of Knitting Projects

I've been having a lot of fun figuring out different knitting techniques. I'm slowly learning. My first real project was a knit scarf, which is not quite long enough and just boring ribbed knits and black, but it gave me a lot of practice. Next, I tried a hat that was way too small to fit anyone who hadn't just emerged from a womb. I try not to get frustrated with those types of mistakes and instead see them as necessary practice to move up the learning curve--which is a stuffy way of telling myself to stop cursing over projects: there are children nearby. After that hat, I was fairly confident I could repeat it in a more adult size, and I was intrigued by the idea of stranding, so I did four hats using the technique. Stranding is making some stitches a different color from other stitches. I made Christmas gifts for my brothers and my husband doing different types of two color stranding. The one I made David was unfortunately too small, so I did another one that would actually fit.

It's far from perfect, but here is David in his new hat:

Argyle is surprisingly hard to keep straight, but I figured it out eventually. I wish I had insisted on getting pictures of my brothers in their hats, but it was Christmas and they were mostly crashed on the couch all day.

I did all the hats on flat needles, then doing a seam up one side. I wanted to try circular needles next. This is my first project on circular needles, using up some scraps and leftover bits from past crocheting projects. When I do it again, I'm going to do the decreases a little bit differently, but it turned out pretty cute, I think. Aubrey just woke up from her nap (she was barfing a lot last night) and it fits, which is pretty much a miracle, considering my track record, and very cute.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Grades and a little Christmas

Well, grades came out Christmas Eve and I've been too preoccupied with reading the books I got for Christmas to post my grades. But, now I am ready to brag a little.

Ok, here are my classes and my grade. I'm extremely proud of myself because I worked so hard for these grades. Harder than I've ever worked. Probably harder than I needed to work.
English 110--A (I happen to know I got 100% in this class, but it's a one credit class, so not a huge deal)
Child Development--A
English 252--A (97%)
International Studies--Developing World--A (96%)
Science Foundations--A (This one was 99%, which I thought was pretty cool)
Family Foundations--A

A 4.0. Yep, not bad for my first semester back and for going full-time. Next semester, I'm signed up for a religion class and Math 108 Math for the Real World. I'm hoping to add one more class if it opens up. It's a bit difficult, because they are just starting the online program and I have very specific classes to take and they aren't offering too many of the ones I need. Even I wanted to go full-time, I wouldn't be able to, just because they aren't offering the classes. On the other hand, it kind of works out, since I only have ten classes left and I'm not eager to go full-time again.

Onto Christmas. We had a very nice Christmas--nothing too out of the ordinary, but both my brothers were there and my sister and her husband, plus all our kids. The only one missing was my nephew, Winston. I haven't seen him since November, but hopefully I will get to see him sometime soon. He is smiling already and I can't wait to see it. Otherwise, we had quite the group. Everyone slept here at my parents' house and we had a party. My mom's cousin, Andrea, and her family stopped by on Christmas Eve and it was so great to see them again. Her kids are so big! It's amazing how quickly everyone is growing now.

Xander checking out what Santa left him.Max on Christmas morning.
Aubrey and her "person." For some reason, she has it in her head that it's not a purse, it's a person. Or should I spell that purson?

Here's my nephew, Graham, in the hat I knitted for him. My sister and I decided to have the children make each other presents this year. I had the idea of using knitting looms. The kids picked out the bulky yarn. Xander helped me a little on the first one, but it ended up being way too small and my child size loom was missing, so all of Christmas Eve I knitted. Hyrum and Miles also got similar hats. The kids then helped make the pom poms for the tops, which explains the craziness. Graham's ended up looking a lot like a carrot. It's pretty cute, even though his is a little small. Hyrum's and Miles' hats ended up much more appropiately sized. The kids strung bracelets for my niece Maddy.
Griffin on Aubriana's rocking horse (I wish you could see it a little more). It's so cute and it tosses its head and tail and neighs. All the kids loved it. Christmas chaos in the background.
I just made everyone tell me what their favorite part of Christmas this year was and this is what I got:
David: Um, finding out that you made that hat for me.
Kara: How totally spoiled I was by David. And I have tons of reading material now. And my new makeup. But mostly just being with family.
Xander:When Daddy gave me the gift card. I would say that would be the gun and helmet.
Maxton: When we opened the kitchen.
Griffin: I don't know. Playing with my army men and when I saw them. That was my favorite part.
Aubrey: Um, some presents. Mom: What was your favorite present? Aubrey: The puppy present. His head goes round round round.

Here's David putting together the play kitchen. You can also see the Clone Trooper helmets the boys each received from my parents.
Isn't she so cute? She's at that stage when she usually looks all ragamuffiny--with disheveled hair and a dirty face. I cannot believe how often she needs a bath.Anyway, that was pretty much our Christmas. I somehow didn't get pictures of most of the hats I knitted. I hate it when that happens! I've got to get photos before my brothers scatter and I don't get another chance.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.