Early Spring

 
Spring hasn't officially arrived, yet it already feels like early summer.  On our trip to Buffalo, for Maddy's big championship swim meet, we saw crocuses and daffodils in full bloom.  Unfortunately, I didn't have the opportunity to take any pictures.  The flowers were seen as we made our way back to our hotel, which was on the route of the St. Patrick's Day parade.  We had to walk a couple of blocks through drunk holiday revelers and being nearly trampled pushed picture-taking far from our thoughts.

Maddy didn't win any ribbons during the three-day meet, but she made some of her best times.  We're so proud of her.  The competition in these things are getting fiercer as the kids are getting older and bigger.  I know Maddy won't ever be a super-star swimmer, but she's always loved to swim and I love seeing her big bright smile when she's at the pool!

I got quite a bit of knitting done during our weekend away.  Alyson's Andean chullo hat is off the needles.  I just have to make and attach the tassels.

I started another stranded colorwork project.  After working on the colorblock stocking for money, I was inspired to make a better one for my own daughter.  Maddy is the only child in my family without a handmade stocking, a fact she reminds me of every Christmas.  It's not that I didn't want to make her one.  The rest of the kids all received cross-stitched stockings.  (During my pre-knitting years)  They were designed by the same person and all look similar in style.  I don't think the designer made a fourth one.  I was planning on stitching the same stocking for Maddy as I did for Alyson with the exception of a few color changes...  that never happened.  I checked out a Fair Isle book, Fearless Fair Isle Knitting, by Kathleen Taylor when I came across the Reindeer Romp Christmas Stocking.

Reindeer Romp Christmas Stocking

Maddy fell in love with it  and asked that I knit that instead of cross-stitching her stocking.  So far, I think the reindeer look more like moose.  I just realized I have to stitch Maddy's name in the stocking.  Maybe replace the first row of stars?

The Forgetful Knitter

I completely forgot about my knitting!  Well, no.  I couldn't forget all about my knitting.  With all this moving turmoil, I forgot to mention the knitting that was completed prior to the frenzy of house-cleaning.  My younger children had their mid-winter break during the 3rd week of February and I was able to finish Alyson's apres-surf hoodie!

Doesn't she look great?

I also started and finished a Christmas stocking an acquaintance asked me to knit for her.  Laurie and I have a lot of friends in common.  Her son, Jack, and my Emily are the same age and attended the same elementary school.  Anyway, she facebook messaged me asking whether I'd be interested in replicating a stocking.  Her daughter is getting married this year.  Wouldn't nice if son-in-law had the same stocking as the rest of the family on their first Christmas together?  I said yes.  Knitting for money?  Gotta love it!

I was very excited when Laurie told me she'd drop off one of her original stockings in my mailbox.  I was imagining a multi-colored fair isle stocking, maybe with a couple of prancing reindeer (we have a couple of those), a gingerbread house or snowflakes?

I was a little disappointed when I received the stocking.  The stocking is acrylic and knit in really wide stripes.  The foot is knit in the round but the leg is knit flat.  I don't understand why because the design is attached with duplicate stitches.  Another odd thing is that the design is on the front of the leg, so you can't really see it when it's hung over the fireplace.

You can't see the designs!

I had a hard time finding the exact colors.  I couldn't find a yarn line that had the right red, green and off-white.  If one line had a close red, it didn't have any appropriate green.  Another line had a good green but the only red was more like fuchsia.

Hopefully, Laurie will like the end result.  I drop it off tomorrow.

I also started Alyson's Andean Chullo hat on the last weekend of the kids' break.  This is the kit the I got from Knit Picks.  Personally, I like the blue version better, but the red one will go better with Alyson's winter jacket, the jacket she's hardly worn this winter because of the mild season.  Hopefully she'll get more mileage on that jacket next year.  And, she'll look really spiffy with her new hat

right earflap

March Madness

We finally had our first snowstorm of the winter.  Ironically, it was on the first day of March, the month we look forward to spring bulbs and peruse seed catalogs.  Nevertheless, we made good use of our snow day.  Madelyn spent the whole morning outside with her friends sledding, building snow forts and rolling around in the white stuff.   I spent the time making fabric boxes for my kitchen desk cubbies.

Forgot to pics in progress, but I think they turned out well.

The sad thing is that I made these boxes because we're selling our house.  I know that doesn't make a whole lot of sense but I'll get to back to the boxes.  Hubby has a new job out of state.  We're all very distraught over this life-altering decision to move.  The last week or so I've wiped many a tear (mine and the kids) while the closets have been sorted and family photos taken down and boxed.  Right now, I'm taking a break from clearing out the basement.  

About the fabric boxes... With our house going on the market, I didn't want  my bills and correspondences laid out for all the world to see.  So I went to Michael's, JoAnn's, Target, Lowes, and Marshall's.  I couldn't find any baskets or boxes that would fit the cubbies.  Of course, that meant that I had to make something for myself.

Now, back to clearing out the basement.  Anybody want a twenty-year-old potty seat?

There hasn't been much knitting this past week, but I finally finished the first sleeve of Alyson's apres surf hoodie.  The second sleeve seems to going faster and I'm determined to finish this project before I cast on anything new.  Sometimes the urge to start a new project is paralyzing.  There are so many things I want to knit! 

first sleeve

second sleeve

Yarn and Pedals

During Madelyn's swim practice at our local YMCA, I was having my own little workout on one of the many elliptical machines.  It's always very crowded the first few weeks of the new year.  I suppose it's because of all the new year resolutions that people make.  "I will exercise EVERYDAY!"  Now that it's February, the crowd has thinned out and we are left with the regulars.

I'm not a very intense exerciser.  I don't like doing it and I find all sorts of excuses not to do it.  In fact, I talked myself out of a morning workout today so I could work on some of my projects. So far, I've read and replied emails, trolled Ravelry, read some stupid articles on Yahoo and started this post.  My project, the double wedding ring quilt, which I will get to after I'm done here, is still waiting for me at my sewing machine.  Anyway, I was hopping along on the elliptical machine thinking about my knitting.  I wish I could knit during a workout.  I think I would enjoy it so much more.  Would it be really weird if I knit while pedaling one of those recumbent stationary bicycles?  Those seats are very cushy and my arms wouldn't be doing anything.  If I had my yarn in a little bag at my waist, it wouldn't have a chance at getting tangled in the pedals.  Just imagine the strange looks I'd get!

recumbent bike with cushy seat

Floating UFOs

Happy Groundhog's Day!  It's been such a warm winter, I don't think it matters what the groundhog sees today.

In an earlier post, I had resolved to finish a couple of old UFOs.  When I say, "old" I mean REALLY OLD.  In 1998, I started a double wedding ring quilt.  I remember the year because we were living in California at the time and getting ready to move to New York.  So, the top was started on the west coast and completed in the east.  During the few years we lived in NY, I basted the layers together and started hand-quilting the darn thing.  This uncompleted quilt has since lived with us through two more moves and is still a UFO.  As much as I enjoy hand-quilting, I never liked dragging the 78"x78" quilt out and laying it over my lap to quilt.  Too hot in the summer and too many other things to do in the winter.

I hand-quilted about 1/3 of the quilt

 Recently, I've started on the quilt again, though I've decided to finish it on the machine.  I'm going to try to work on it a little every week until it's done.

Getting ready to machine-quilt

Blue is my FAVORITE color

The other old UFO is also a quilt.  I've never completely followed someone else's quilt design before this one.  It's from a Little Quilts booklet that I bought on a trip to Atlanta ten years ago.  I even followed the color scheme of the pattern, which is unusual for me.

Only the border needs to be quilted

The only thing I didn't follow was the heart-in-hand applique in the left corner.  Instead of the pattern from the booklet, I traced Madelyn's little hand.  She was about two at the time.  It's probably been over two years since I last touched this project.  I really want to get it done but I have so many other things I also want to work on!

Book Lust

I checked out a couple of knitting books from my local library last week.  It's a perfect way to preview books before buying them.  Since Borders went out of business, my town is left without a decent bookstore.  The nearest Barnes and Noble is 20 minutes away... not convenient for a quick pop-in.

Knit, Swirl and The Knitter's Book of Socks

Knit, Swirl by Sandra McIver is a beautiful book.  The pictures are gorgeous and the patterns are wonderfully innovative.  Sandra's swirl jackets are knit in one piece in four different round or oval silhouettes.  She says, "A Swirl is a uniquely flattering, one piece, one seam, circular jacket with sculptured shaping and fluid fit,"


The models wearing the jackets range from 5'6" to 5'9", so I'm not sure a short, stocky woman would look good in them.  Be that as it may, each jacket is worn by at least two different models and they all look fabulous.  My favorite is the cover jacket, the coat of many colors.  I wish I could knit that sweater with the suggested yarn, but it would take 10 skeins of mountain goat, costing over $220.  Yikes!

Clara Parkes' The Knitter's Book of Socks is a wonderful guide for sock knitters.  Everything you need to know about sock yarn from elasticity to moisture management is discussed .  And the patterns!  She's compiled patterns from 20 different rock-star designers including  Norah Gaughan, Jared Flood, Cookie A, Cat Bordhi, and Ann Budd.  There's too many lovely patterns to pick an absolute favorite, but one of mine is veil of rosebuds by Anne Hanson.

Both books are available on Amazon and Knit Picks.  I think I see a future book order coming my way...