Getting Nothing Done

I have made almost no progress on any of my previously mentioned projects, but do not despair, I've started a new one! Yes, that's right, even though I have several things on needles (not to mention a quilt to finish) I have begun and am actually close to done with a whole new project.

I think I have some sort of aversion to finishing things because they are adding up faster and in bigger piles all over the house.

What is this new project? I am now knitting a pair of slippers for Loki using the Fiber Trends children's felt clog pattern . 

They are orange (Loki's Favorite color) of course! I tried really hard to get him to pick some Cascade 220 that was on sale at Knit A Round (no orange left) but while looking he just kept pulling out random colors until he peeked around the corner and saw some Lanaloft (not on sale) and said "Oh look! Here's orange Mama!"

I really want to finish these before next spring so I've gotten really good at knitting while holding a sleeping baby. Astas has taken to having 20 min or so of arms free napping. This is not good for getting anything done.

I'm also working on the last detail for the pant's I'm making Astas (it will make sense when they are done. Tease, tease , tease)

A Baby Sweater I Did Not Knit

I must confess that I have made absolutely no progress at all what so ever on Loki's quilt. Ugh. It's sitting in the corner waiting, waiting...

On the other hand the pants/jumper for Astas are almost done. Seam sewing and straps are all that are needed. I'm almost finished with some very cool changes to the super simple stripy baby hat. (These are teasers I know, but "I need more time!")

In the meantime please enjoy my stall tactics and this lovely sweater that our friend Joann knit for Astas. It was like she read my mind. I had just been thinking I wanted to make a cardigan for the babe but had all these other things I had to do.

 Presto! I come home from work and there is this lovely baby cardigan waiting for us!

(not the best photo, but it will have to do. Sorry)

No one has ever knit for me like this before, I love it! The yarn is a great fall/boy color without screaming "boy". It's soft, squishy and monogramed. Yeah!!

I'm now wanting to make one too. We will see if I have time.

(Sorry for the lack of baby in cardigan pictures, he just wouldn't cooperate and I was impatient to get this post up and running)

Moderne Days Gone By.

I really wanted to show off some things I've done, but must admit they were finished long ago.

I made my first Mason Dixon Moderne Log Cabin baby blanket way back in 2007 for Loki before he was born.

I used 2 strands of Koigu KPPPM held together for the body of the blanket and a single strand of Louet Gems lt. worsted weight.

 

With the leftover yarn I made matching booties

Oh, little Loki when he was a week old! Doing this post was so fun. I got to look back at picture of my Loki when he was a tiny babe. Ohhh, time passes so quickly.

Let me tell you I wanted to use every scrap of yarn I had. It took 10 skeins of Koigu and 2 of the Gems to make this blanket happen. It was not cheap, it was worth it, but not cheap. I did use the rest to make the booties and was only left with about a yard of each color.

Frankenslipper

I had a totally different name for this post when I began, but then I saw what I was ending up with, well you'll see...

This is a story about a totally harmless little slipper.

It all started when I made myself a pair of slippers from the

Fiber Trends Felt Clog Pattern about 2 years ago. I wore them all the time and when they started showing some threadbare spots at the begining of last winter, I ignored it. 

I went to put them the other day and remembered 

"Oh yeah, these have holes"

I decided instead of making a new pair (remember the lazy factor) 

I'd just repair the slippers. So far so good.

 

To make the repair I used a felted thrift store sweater. Still doing ok.

I cut out new soles to put over the old ones and I thought I was going to be brilliant and needle felt some extra patches on but it didn't work at all. Boo. This is where it all started going badly.

 I  resorted to hand whip stitching them on and then doing the same to attach the new soles to the slippers. I searched and searched for the blue yarn that I had made them out of to no avail. I did find the green yarn that I had made my husbands slippers out of. (His are fine by the way) and thats when..

... from the old slippers

Frankenslipper was born

Look away, look away. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!  

Scary huh?

Fall is in the Air.

I realized I never posted a finished picture of the sweater I made for Loki. Pulling it out of storage in preparation for the crisp weather that is in the air made me want to share. It's such a wonderfully light weight but warm sweater. Taking it out makes me want to knit another, but I gotta get those pants done 1st.

Close up of the buttons.  There is a close up of the stripes here.

The pictures are from last year when it was finished. 

I just never put them up.

Two at Once

I was going to post this as kinda off topic but then it occurred to me that really it's not at all. Why not? I was figuring this blog is as much about me as it is my crafts. So many blogs are about the person behind the art not just the art. (There is a whole other blog post brewing in here regarding art and craft.)

This evening I took my 1st foray into double babywearing. Two babes at once (well one toddler and a babe).

Astas is in a Pfau Didy wrap  and Loki is in a Babyhawk.

Not the best picture as this was taken right after we got home and it turned out about 30min was all we could handle. Loki was ready to jump out, but I made him pose for a quick pic for proof that it happened at all. 

I was surprised at how "easy" it was to throw two kids in carriers and trot off into the woods. I bet if I keep it up I'll be back to my fighin' weight in no time.

I Sew Too.

You may know that I've been working on a quilt for my dear Loki for well over a year now. I have come to an "I'm almost done point". This is usually where I stall out. "I don't wanna" my mind whines.  I will push on. I have all three layers quilted. I just have to bind the thing up and voilà! I will be done and my kid will be warm when he sleeps.

See, proof, sewing does happen!

I realized after several posts about said quilt I never mention where the pattern comes from. So here goes: It's from Bend The Rules Sewing by Amy Karol ( AKA Angry Chicken) , the Easy Lap Quilt. My quilt is a tad longer too make it fit on a twin bed without hanging off at all. I'll give all the nitty gritty measurements and what not when the thing is all finished.

CHECK OUT THE FINISHED QUILT HERE!!

The Proof Is In The Knitting.

Hey, look I'm knitting! Wonder of wonders! Wonder what I'm knitting?

Can you tell yet? 

I'm sure you may recognize the yarn. Why yes, it's Swish Worsted, again ( I bought way, way to much for the moderne log cabin baby blanket). The colors are Lawn and Marine Heather. 

What about now!

I'm making a pair of wee pants for Astas. I'm using the Cargo pattern from Knitty Summer 05 issue. I'm knitting 2 legs at a time on one needle using magic loop. I'm super lazy and any way to get stuff done that even seems faster and easier, I'll take it!  Someday soon I'm going to do a blog tutorial on the old 2 at a time magic loop I just got to get all the info together in an easy to understand way. Anyway......

My plan for these pants is to, 

A: not put pockets on ( refer to aforementioned laziness) 

B: make them into a jumper of sorts (you'll see when I'm finished what I'm talking about)

I'm using the jogless stripes technique from TECHknitting™

A sort of terribly lit close up of the color change

It's working great although I think I could be pulling a bit tighter to have less of a seam due the magic loop and it kinda bulges because of the floats of yarn from the stripe changes.

One thing about working two pant legs (sleeve's, socks, ect..) at a time and in stripes is that you have kind of a yarn nightmare you really have to stay on top of or you will spend precious knitting time untangling the mess.

Note the mess on the right! 

(It's really not that bad, as I am keeping it under control)

I hope to finish them before Astas is too big to wear um!

Oh, Summer, how I never even knew you.

 I've been away again. (I know hard to tell.) This time on vacation up north here in Michigan. It started out all rainy and cold and blah. The weather perked up and by mid week it was warm enough to dip a toe into Lake Michigan.

We had a lot of firsts on our trip:

Loki's  (and Astas') 1st boat ride! 

Loki's 1st time "fishing".

Loki's 1st Kayak ride!

Loki's 1st ever taste of superman ice cream that for some reason I forgot to get a picture of. Let me tell you that flavor is gross, trust me on this, as I was the one who licked the edges to keep them from dripping. I should have just let it drip but the thought of the  crazy bright colors staining his clothes was too much to bare.

And a dry bed overnight for Loki. That was a first and so far has been an only.

We mostly just hung out and took it easy. I was super lucky to have 2 kids who napped and went to bed AT THE SAME TIME. 

Really it was amazing. I read several magazines and 

I even had time to knit! Woo Hoo! (more on this in the next post)

So I'm back and a bit saddened by the fact that I feel summer has past me by. I didn't get to the pool enough or spend enough time outside. I feel like my new little one is growing fast and that time is slipping away from me. Hopefully with falls arrival will come a sense of motivation and productivity.

The Little Seedling Food Drive

The Little Seedling in Ann Arbor is having a food drive for

  Food Gatherers

Bring in non-perishable canned and dry goods that are unopened, in good condition and not expired.(Any item is appreciated, but we have many requests for high-protein items, cereal, kid-friendly foods, baby formula, soups, stews, canned meat/fish.) to The Little Seedling, 355 South Zeeb Road Ann Arbor , MI Call for more info:734-418-2392.

For your donation you will receive your choice of:

1.  1% off total order per "can" up to 10% off.  This is off the entire purchase. In stock items only.

OR

2. 10 or more cans and get 20% off any ONE in stock item. 

    DOES NOT APPLY TO SPECIAL ORDERS

    ONE per customer

The food drive will be going starting this Friday August 21 until next Friday August 28th 2009.