Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Vest update

The vests, wee socks and nap sacks made their way to a birthday party on Saturday. The blue vest fit Logan really well, with a little length for growth.

Blue vest

He was so excited when he pulled open the little napsack and pulled out the vest and socks. The gifts were definitely a hit with Logan.

Blue vest

Dylan lost interest in opening gifts after #2, a dress up set of knight's gear--shield, helmet, sword. I managed to get his vest onto him while he was sitting in the PowerWheels Jeep the boys got from their parents.

Red vest

Unfortunately, his vest is just a tad too short. So I'm going to figure out some way to add length to the bottom of the bottom. Here's what I'm thinking: since it was knit bottom up, and I want to preserve the cable pattern, I'll add the length just above the ribbing at the bottom. This might be a bit tricky, but I'll figure it out.

In non-knitting news, I've been experimenting with letting the cat outside for short periods of time. He goes out, explores, eats some grass, then comes back in.

Explorer

Sometimes, though, he's not ready to come in when I want him to, so I have to go get him and bring him in. In this case, he spends anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours crying at the door, wanting to go back out. It's pretty annoying.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Sorry, blog

I haven't been giving you the attention you deserve. I've thought quite often of updating you, but alas! I've had nothing to update you with. Relatively little knitting being done over here. But now that I have a couple small FOs, I thought I'd share. First, the second little boy vest, this one in blue.

vests

These vests are headed out tomorrow to the boys' birthday party. Along with this slew of wee socks.

Wee socks

Aren't wee socks wonderful? Such quick knits, and a good way to use sock yarn remnants. For the 4 year old's socks, I cast on 44 stitches; for the 2 year old's, 40. The foot of the 4 year old's is about 5.5"; the foot of the 2 year old's, 5".

I guess I never showed you a picture of the Purple Pangea shawl all done. Well, that's because I didn't get a good one. But here's the best of what I got.

Purple Pangea Shawl

I've made negligible progress on the 2nd Purple Blob. But it's good mindless-ish knitting, so it'll get done eventually.

I ended up frogging that Columbine Peaks sock I was working on last month (or was it 2 months ago???). I was bored with the pattern, annoyed with my gauge/tension and knew I'd never finish it. So now that yarn is becoming a Springtime Bandit--or as I'm calling it Autumn Bandit. This is a super fun knit. The pattern is just interesting enough to keep me going, but simple enough that I don't have to reference the chart.

Autumn Bandit progress

In non-knitting news, I've got a new toy! Thanks, mom!

guitar

I really need to build up some calluses on my left fingers.

I'll try to be a bit more diligent about updating you.

Monday, August 3, 2009

An experiment

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You know what that means! I'm blocking the purple blob. Finally! Which brings us to the experiment I'm conducting: can I block this shawl on the floor of my apartment without the cat bothering it? I sure hope so. I planned on blocking it on the table using those handy knitter's block puzzle pieces, but it proved to be just a bit too large. I may end up locking Butters out of the living room for the night if I decide he's not trustworthy (he's probably not).

As soon as I put the purple blob into soak, I cast on for a 2nd purple blob! I had a whole 52 grams of the J. Knits Lace-a-licious left over, and decided to knit a shawl from a much simpler pattern that will require far less concentration.

Went for a little day hike on the eastern edge of Mt. Rainier National Park yesterday with the fam. Naches Peak Loop Trail. It was a good hike, though we spent about twice as long in the car, which was kinda lame.

IMG_2342

The wildflowers were in full bloom, and they were just lovely! There were lots of people on the trail. The views were absolutely stunning.

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I wish it was closer to home, but we have those hours in the car to thank for the finishing of the purple pangea shawl. :)