Snow Queen Bonnet

 Wanted to make a bonnet for Nuriel to wear as part of a Snow Queen costume for Krampusnacht.

 A quick knit on US 9 needles.

Soft blend of Alpaca & Wool. 

Ravelry Notebook

A Socking Hot Summer

Yarn & pattern details blogged here. 

Now I must go find some yarn to knit myself a pair as my mother would like to have this pair...

On My Needles...

 I'm knitting a pair of Lotus Heart Socks. I wanted to knit something in a color I normally wouldn't choose. Orange! I'm using a yarn that has 10% nylon in it, which is a stretch for my yarn-snobbish self. Alas. Durability matters when you invested this much time in knitting a pair of socks!

Leaf lace cuff. I really like this pattern as it is written for multiple sizes, not just the usual "woman's medium size 8." (I wear 11.)The yarn is from Zarzuela's Fibers. 

I'm often reading this lovely book to Nuriel. She loves books. It's sort of like the African version of "The House That Jack Built." The illustrations are so beautiful as well. 

Lil' Midi Bean Pilot - Pui

At the end of the school year the parents of my students gifted me with chocolate & a yarn gift certificate. Yes! They know me well. Such a wonderful gift to receive! One of the skeins I purchased was Malabrigo Sock in colorway Solis. Even though her noggin' isn't the smallest, I still like the pilot-style hat a lot on her.

Hester

 Hester by Susanna IC in Little Red Bicycle Tandem Sock

 Originally intended as a knit for myself... Alas.

"The Scarlett Letter" club was a gift to myself for Christmas. The kit arrived on my birthday. Two gifts in one. Very efficient. I might still block it & wear it myself!

Playkitchen Oven Mitt

 

Nuriel loves her play kitchen. And she loves our way-too-big-for-her oven mitt. So, I decided to make her one. Nuriel-sized. I used Malabrigo leftovers and size 8 needles. 'Cause that's what I had. Made a nice big mitten. Dropped it in the wash to felt. Voila. It's funny how she puts it on, goes to her little kitchen and says, "Uhhh... Hot."

Nuriel's Electric Ladyland Dress

Hine is... Nuriel's Electric Ladyland Dress. (She loves Jimi Hendrix music so much that I'm thinking she might be his reincarnation. Haha!) I started  it with my Koigu leftovers, but I purchased an additional skein when I ran out but hadn't gotten to the desired length yet. I love the colors. I used Kelly Broker's Hine pattern and increased 2 stitches underneath each arm every 6th row to achieve the A-line. I love, love the Hine pattern! The garments created are so versatile. It's quite baggy on Nuriel, but I wanted it that way. It should fit her for 2 years or so, eventually becoming a tunic.

I can now tell her to smile for pictures and most often she will do so. She's such a funny girl. 

Yup. My girl. More energy than both of her brothers combined!

I picked three random buttons from my Mom's collection. It seemed that something so colorful doesn't need three identical buttons.

The Green Dress

What I really need to do is block all the shawls that have been coming off my needles these past few weeks & months, but this procrastinator has completed somethin' for Christmas in October! Voila...

 

Rasmilla's Elvira in Swan's Island.

One skein from my stash. 

I basically just knit til I ran out of yarn - or pretty close to it.

Nice dress for now - tunic for later.

I loved this pattern oh-so-very-much. She's such a funny girl!

October Already!

Hard to believe. I suppose time to give the blogging world a sign that we are indeed alive. It's Virginia State Fair Time & of course we had to make some entries given the success last year. I won two third place ribbons this year, one for the green Icarus Shawl & one for Nuriel's Boheme.

Nathan won a red ribbon (2nd place) at the Horse Art Competition. It's an awesome drawing. He is rather unhappy with 2nd place, though...

... which brings us to Zeus & Athena. This crayon/pencil drawing did get him a first place, blue ribbon. Yay!

I took a picture of this awesome cake from the Youth Baking Competition, also at the State Fair. What a great cake idea, huh? 

This was Nuriel's seond State Fair, and her first time in a stroller! (Yup, you read that right!) The girl is getting too heavy for the Ergo. She did enjoy the ride for the most part, especially when she had an Elephant Ear to munch on! 

She also likes to push her face against the hallway/dining-room French door. 

I'll try to have another update soon. I just wrapped up a 4th grade Norse Mythology block & I do need to blog about that! Life is just so busy - always...

Yarn Along Wednesday

I'm joining Yarn Along Wednesday today. 

I finished this, and then I went to some functional knitting yesterday and stitched up a Vanilla soaker. For some reason I totally got everything wrong. It turned out way too big. So big that (even after slightly felting it) it will not ever fit a child in diapering age! So, it's being felted in the washer now. It was a nice soft rosy hue and will make some nice heart-ornaments for the Christmas tree. :-) I did figure out why it got so big. I wasn't using the right version for the yarn I had. Duh, me. 

I'm also knitting a green shawl using some Malabrigo Sock from my stash. And I have 5 (gasp) shawls waiting to be blocked. I finished The Silver Lining, I have a Rosie Shawl, and I used the white Malabrigo to knit three Shetland Triangles varying in size: Mother. Daughter. Dollie. 

I'm reading Conception, Birth & Early Childhood by Norbert Glas. I'm enjoying the insights he offers about child development. It's so nice to see all of this unfold for Nuriel. If I get around to it sometime, I'll share more.

If you haven't entered yet, the Mother Earth Meltdown Monday Giveaway is still open to entries!

Half A Kiwi {HINE is a girl}

I had the honor of test-knitting this for Kelly over at knit.so.quaint. It's HINE is a girl, the extended version, which is due to be released soon. The pattern is one of those no-seams kind that I love so much. It's a top-down construction. It's a fairly easy knit, yet with the assymmetrical button-band & lace sleeves it has a quite sophisticated look. Since I would love for this to fit Nuriel for two cold seasons, I chose to knit the 18-24 months size.

I used Woolrae (8-ply). I was a bit hesitant at first to use a variegated yarn. I worried about pooling since part of Hine is knit back & forth and part of it in the round, but this yarn was a good choice for this project. I love how the colors blend & mend. I added Paua buttons. You must think I have an arsenal of Paua buttons. I don't. I put Paua buttons on a project for the time Nuriel wears it. When she outgrows the garment, I recycle the buttons for a new project and put some simple buttons on the outgrown garment before I pass it on to someone as a hand-me-down.

Kiwi pattern. Kiwi yarn. Kiwi buttons. On Ravelry the project is here. It looks lovely on my hine. It will make a nice 1st birthday gift.

A Metaphor For Optimism

Ahhhhh. Looking for The Silver Lining. For a melancholic like me that's always a bit challenging. 

In this post I mentioned having received a gift of two skeins of Knitsch Colorway The Silver Lining. I wanted The Silver Lining to become an Ishbel. I thought it would be a nice way to literally wrap myself with The Silver Lining.

Now, I tend to overestimate how much yarn I need for a project. I always have leftovers, but I wanted to use every lil' bit of The Silver Lining, so I did some research in regards to size. I figured if 1-1/2 skeins were needed to make a small stockinette/small lace section Ishbel, then I could get away with working a small stockinette/large lace section Ishbel... Right?!  

WRONG! About a third into the CAST-OFF ROW (of all rows!), I ran out of The Silver Lining. You have to admit it can't get more dramatic than running out of The Silver Lining. (Sniff.)

Complicating the situation was the fact that I had been so confident about my 'yardage math' that I hadn't even inserted a life-line. (Aren't you glad that I 'just' teach 4th grade math? Algebra might be quite disastrous!) - Ripping back was thus not an option either.  

At 1:45 a.m. I sent a message to "R."

"I ran out of The Silver Lining 1/3 into casting off Ishbel! I'm now trying to find The Silver Lining... in oh, so many ways! :-)"

Seven minutes later, from the other side of the globe this message popped up in my inbox: 

"Oh ohhh. I might be able to send over a little bit of The Silver Lining. How many metres do you reckon? I had some left over from my Mum's Scalene."

Ahhh. What joy! I was able to settle into the feather-bed for some restful sleep after all & The Silver Lining is traveling via Airmail as I'm typing... :-)

And that's the story of The Silver Lining. I'm just so thankful & grateful. Now back to Mommy-reality aka a stinky, poopy diaper...

Please note: Comments are here to stay.

Knitting & Reading (& Stashing)

~ Inspired by Tonya, I've decided to join Ginny's Yarn Along for today! ~

I'm knitting a Shetland Triangle (Pattern by Evelyn Clark) with Malabrigo Sock from my stash. It's a very simple shawl. It was easy to memorize the pattern. It's giving me lots of time for meditation & reflection as I go along since I don't have to think about the pattern or look at a chart. It's a bittersweet knit. I purchased the yarn a long time ago, anticipating a special knit for a special occasion. This special occasion will never happen. I think you can put two and two together here. I pondered what to do with the yarn & decided to go with the original idea of a shawl. What I will do with it? - I don't know. Maybe Nuriel can wear it one day.

I'm reading "Maori Myths" by A.W. Reed in preparation for a 4th grade block. I always wanted to share these beautiful stories with my class, but didn't know in which grade to fit it all in. Inspired by a Waldorf teacher in Philly, I'm devoting a 3-weeks block to it this upcoming school year. I'm very excited about it.

This isn't supposed to be a blog about "Stashing," but a most lovely gift arrived from Rachel today! Yarn from New Zealand. That lovely yarn in the picture there & also chocolate & a very sweet lil' book. Thank you so much! I just *had* to mention it here.

Meet Potato Sack

You know, on Ravelry everything must have a name. I had originally named it "Phunky Monkey" because of the very colorful yarn. I've renamed it "Potato Sack." I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning (okay, 12:05 a.m.) to block this & the soaking made it huge. The yarn stretched out way too much. There's no way it will fit her anytime soon. Ughh. Arghhh. Well, I suppose it's a pretty potato sack.

I'm starting to think "birthdays." Nathan & Nuriel both have a birthday coming up in September. I'm knitting a hat for Nathan. He actually asked me to do so. I had a look on Etsy for inspiration for Nuriel. I found a perfect lil' doll with a knitted body for her. Price tag: $185. Now, I do want to say that I'm glad to see a doll priced at $185. If you've ever made a doll, you know that it's *a lot* of work. And I do believe we live in a society where handmade is undervalued. However, it is not what I can pay & it's so nice to make a doll for your child, so I'm making my own. I had some suitable yarn in my stash. I have some leftover doll-making supplies from a workshop I did last year. I'm making my girl a doll. Price tag: $0 - sort of. Here's that work in progress...

I'm going to crochet a cap for hair, using an auburn mohair yarn. - That's if my yarn snobby self can get over the 5% nylon content. (Help me, Mindi!) If not, the doll may just need to have a permanent hat. I'm undecided about what color to use for embroidering the eyes. I've also started using some purple lace yarn to make a mini shawl. It'll be a 12" doll, which is a good size for a small child.

Next Up...

I'm knitting from my stash this summer. Oh, the yarn treasures I have accumulated over the years!
Work In Progress... Boheme (I have the free version from way back when, so my pattern might be outdated.) Unidentifiable yarn from my stash - a yarn that turns out being a bit too colorful for my taste. Nevertheless, it will keep her warm in the Fall & Winter months.I'm going to replace the diaper pin with some precious Paua shell buttons which I recycled from a sweater.

She's a lil' stinker, you know...

Meet Greengirl

I finished something! Yay. Green is my favorite color & the color certainly suits my melancholic temperament as well. I bought this yarn last summer. Swans Island Certified Organic Merino - dyed naturally. Luxury! I was going to knit this shawl (and then 4 more shawls to meet the 10 in 2010 goal) during my maternity leave, but that never happened. So, here it is. I'm so glad I finished something!

80" (200cm - 2m, baby!) from tip to tip. 25" (63 cm) from neck to bottom tip. Fiercely blocked.

I'm loving the lace!

I usually give shawls away, but this one is for me!

Hello Blog...

... it's me checkin' in. - It's still up & down for this Mama. These past few weeks have been tough. I thought the second year would be "easier" - not so. Father's Day was extremely difficult. I wanted to blog a note from Nuriel to Brent to honor the day, but I just couldn't get myself there. But, I've been doing a bit of summer knitting with yarn from my stash. I realize just how much sanity I get from knitting. It's so nice to have time to knit.

I finished an Icarus Shawl. It's blocking at the local yarn shop. I can't wait to pick it up tomorrow. It had been in my UFO pile for almost a year. It feels so good to finish something. I have so many creative ideas, but often I just don't have the time or the energy... So, not yay for beauty, but yay for finishing somethin'. In that spirit...

A Collared Pixie in Malabrigo Rios. It will be a gift for one of Nunu's friends. (If you see dust, please clean your computer screen. It's certainly not dust on my floor! My house is spotless. Ha.)

Erika Flory's "Little Red" in Woolrae. It will be Nunu's 1st Birthday Cape. Time sure flies. She'll be one in 2-1/2 months! It will also most likely be a lil' gnome cape for Halloween. The yarn colors are so vibrant. The yarn is so soft. And the lil' Matryoshka button is so cute, too. Back to knitting aka a moment of sanity.

A Girl & A Hat

Okay, I'm done knitting with this colorway now. I'm finishing up my reports for the year, but it's nice to have some time to pull out things from the WIP basket and add them to the FO side.

 Mama, are you crazy. It's hot. Take that thing off!

Okay, I'll cooperate for a moment.

This One Fits!

Indeed! ~ Same yarn & pattern as the one that didn't fit.

Knitted Sheep

 Our school's annual auction is fast approaching. My students have been busy working on the class art project, which is a dollhouse-sized yurt with 12 sheep & a felted nomadic herder (made by moi). The frame of the yurt, with a diameter of app. 3 feet, has been created & we will do the felting next week. Most sheep have been knitted by the students.

The sheep are waiting to be sewn up. I have woodburned each student's name on a small wooden tag. The tag will be tied around each sheep's neck. Wooden tags courtesy of Tonya over at Natural Earth Farm. Superb craftsmanship I must say! The students are using Peace Fleece yarn. It's so soft! (I don't want to show the names of my students, so I used the extra tags to make name tags for my family.)

And each student copied the pattern!