Creative Procrastinator

Adventures in Knitting a Baby Blanket

2011-12-17T09:57:00.000-06:00

Deciding to knit a baby blanket was the easy part. Search through Ravelry for the perfect blanket design and then buy the suggested materials? Noooo, not Haze. That would have been far too easy. I had a vision. Fuzzy, like watching an old tv signal from an antenna that didn't quite pick it up .. but still a vision that I knew I had to follow.

I knew it had to be crib (cot) size. Not too big, not too small. About this wide (what you can't see me stretch my arms?) okay, about a yard/metre wide, give or take 6 inches. And roughly 50'ish inches long. Yes this was very mathematically calculated and precisely measured, why do you ask?

I knew it had to be edged with satin blanket binding. This was a no-brainer for me. Because what baby doesn't love the feel of satin between their fingers as they suck their fingers or thumb?

I knew it had to be varying shades of mauve, yellow and blue. This was part of the vision. You don't mess with the vision! I found the most colourful satin edging at....wait for it... Walmart. Yes, I bought satin edging that had all the required colours in it! When knitting a blanket, who doesn't go and buy the satin edging first?

Next I started the search for the yarn. This little grandbaby is going to be born and will live in Australia. Australia = Hot. Wool = Out. Acrylic=Out. Cotton = In. Bamboo=In. So with binding in hand to match/contrast colours, off I go to Ram Wools Yarn Co-op. After a brief discussion with the very helpful gal that was working that day, we chose Estelle Cotton Cloud. Soft, lightweight and hopefully durable (we'll find out). I purchased multiple skeins in yellow, mauve and a shade of blue that I always call pencil crayon peacock blue, and that didn't clash too badly with the binding!

I knew it had to be backed with blanket fleece. This would make it warm enough on those cold Australian winter nights (yes, it does actually get cold at night there... it's all relative) And it would also be a nice thick pad for baby for tummy time on the floor. And hopefully to be snuggled up with as baby grows into a toddler and beyond.

With Sating binding and a braid of the three yarn colours in hand, I trek over to the fabric store. I had a vision of (yes again with the visions) a deep blue that would compliment the peacock blue and contrast vividly with the yellow and mauve. Fail. I had 4 choices, Goldenrod (puke yellow), Hot Pink (my daughter had been very explicit in her command to limit the amount of pink...oh, did I not mention that at this point we knew our grandbaby was going to be a little girl!), Brown..really an ugly, pooh brown. Or White. White. Who doesn't think White is a great choice for a baby blanket that will be dragged around and used on the floor? Yes, I bought the White. I only have to make it, I don't have to wash it!

I knew I was knitting quilt squares and I wanted them all different textures. This is where Ravelry came in handy!! I found various knitted afghans that had been knit in squares. I knit the ones that moved me at that moment (again, this was all very specifically planned and thought out! Not!)

Now, quickly, glance up at the name of this blog. Creative Procrastinator. I know myself well enough to know that if I knit a bunch of squares that had to be sewn together I was going to have yet another bag with a partially finished project stuffed into a corner in my craft room. I decided to knit the squares together as I knit them.

I started knitting in June. Aylen Patricia Joan Robenn was born on July 20. I knew I was going to see her in November. I finished the blanket!!

I posted more information on the squares and more pictures of the blanket in progress and finished on my Ravelry Project page.

Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-17T07:20:00.003-06:00

This is Saturday... only about 4 and a half months after my commitment to 2 posts per week...

So no more promises. Well, One Promise. I promise to be true to my self on this blog. I will speak the truth. Might not be often, might be more often than not.... but it will be truth as it applies to me.

Since my last post I have been sick. Most of the time. Nothing serious, but just enough to get you down. Aches, pains, cough, sinus infection, ear infection, stomach pains..well that's been ongoing for a few years now, but intensified to the point of being sent for all those lovely, personally invasive tests that some sicko invented. If there is somewhere for them to stick a probe, they did it. Nothing. Nada. The medical profession has determined that there is nothing they can find that should be causing me the amount of discomfort I am having. It must be in my head...oh wait... maybe it is!!

I am starting to think that all my aches, pains and illnesses are related to my emotional being. To my inner self. To my spiritual being. It makes sense that if I am an emotional eater and I am fat because I am an emotional eater then it should also follow that my body can be adversely affected by the inner turmoil also.

I have started attending a yoga class. Warm Yin Yoga. I have attended once and really liked it. So much so that after class I purchased a 10 class pass. I'm thinking about attending the restorative yoga class later this morning....

It was my friend Faye that started me on the yoga journey this time (oh yes, I have taken a few classes a couple of years ago). Faye also got me to attend Aqua-size classes with her.... and now it looks like another gym membership may be in my future. Thank you Faye :) Physical journey started.

I have also started reading up on Chakra Healing. Not sure where I'm going with this, but I'm starting to look into it. It's been around for thousands of years, maybe there is something to it?

Does anyone have any opinions on this? Any recommendations for reading?

2011? Really?

2011-08-05T15:20:00.004-06:00

It's time to blow the dust off this blog! I'm going to commit to 2 blog reports per week.
One for my knitting and crafting, which I will post in a day or two.
The other weekly post (starting today) will be for the never-ending 'life style change' that goes hand in hand with being fat.

Yes, Fat. Not plus-size, not over-weight, not any of the other politically correct terms we hear now to describe someone of my size.... reality check.. I'm Fat. But that is NOT the end of the story. It's not the beginning either. I've been on this journey, or roller coaster ride, for most of my adult life. Sadly for the first several years I didn't realize that I was actually a healthy weight! Really, I'm 5'9" and used to think and feel fat when I weighed over 130lbs.!! I remember thinking I was going to die when I hit 160. What I wouldn't give to feel THAT fat again! My current weight is 250lbs. (Yes Oprah, it IS about the number when the number is that big!)

I cannot begin to count, or list all the diets I've been on. I've had several 'lifestyle changes'. I've eaten cabbage soup, grapefruit, protein shakes, Slim-fast, Atkins..Atkins does work if you follow it properly, trick is to stay away from the birthday cake and ice cream, heck they probably all work if you stay away from the ice cream! I even handed over my wallet to U-Weight Loss Centres, but I'm not saying anything more about them, they are bad for my blood pressure and sense of serenity... I'm currently a paid up member of Weight Watchers on-line, but can't remember my password, I own all the Biggest Loser Books (yes I joined there also, but cancelled my membership) I have bought and given away most published diet books. Currently own and recently purchased The Core Balance Plan, Dukan Diet and The Cleanse. I own several exercise DVD's, Wii-Fit, Treadmill, York Gym and AeroPilates (must admit I do like doing the pilates workout).

So that's a brief history of my journey. Sort of looks like my golf game, all over the course and if there's a water hole I'll be in it!.

So today is the first day of the next stage. I'm going to be taking everything I've learned from all the various sources and figure out what works for me. I'm going to commit to doing some sort of exercise every day and I'm going to journal what I eat, how I feel and what is going on emotionally. So that's today. I'll be back next Friday with a report on how Week One goes.

All Fixed?

2008-11-17T11:48:00.001-06:00

I've been battling with my Blog for a few months now. It looked all wonky and the photo's weren't showing. I think it's all fixed now? If anyone still has trouble with it please let me know.

I've been tagged... quite some time ago, but just now found it :)

2008-08-18T12:00:00.002-06:00

09 June 2008

I've been tagged...

... by Patti Blaine who is such a talented knitter that I am honored that she has looked at my blog.

Here are the rules of the game which are to be posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

What was I doing 10 years ago?

10 Years ago? WOW! That was 1998. I was fairly new to cross stitching then and was on the hunt for OOP Teresa Wentzler designs. I had discovered E-bay and was avidly buying and selling...see the buying part comes first because I did more of that. I might even have been starting to plan my wedding...must have at least booked the venue.

10 years ago I still able to curl and was on 3 teams, 1 mixed team from work, 1 mixed team from the legion we belong to, and one ladies team, which was a bit more serious than the other two. I started curling fairly late in life, I was in my mid 20's before I did more than just bonspiel (another way of saying we partied more than we thru rocks). Sadly curling ended for me about 7 years ago when my knees go so bad I could no longer be guaranteed that I'd be able to get back up out of the hack without tears.

10 years ago I was still in the same job. 10 years ago we lived in a tiny little house that we were renovating.

What are the 5 things on my to do list for today (in no particular order)
1. Stitching on a UFO RR piece that was supposed to be in the mail on August 11th, but I asked for an extension.
2. Laundry
3. finish covering the garden in newspaper and black poly.
4. Excercise
5. make a to do list?

Snacks I enjoy
My latest snack passion is sliced apple with peanut butter spread on it. My guilty pleasure is Taco Chips.... and chocolate... but not at the same time... and I'm not fussy about what type of chocolate, whatever is available will do ;)

Things I would do if I were a billionaire
I would buy land and build a waterfront home in Lac Du Bonnet, Manitoba (cottage country). I'd build "Safe Haven" for street kids/runaways in Winnipeg. This has been something I've been thinking about for years. To have the funds to just dive in and do it my way would be fabulous.
Leaving enough in an endowment fund so that Safe Haven would always have it's financial needs met would take a good chunk of money. I'd also set up endowment funds for scholarships for kids that live at Safe Haven.

Places I’ve lived
I was born in Ayr, Scotland. Lived in Ayr, Troon, Kilmarnock and Cumnock and London, England in the first 4 years of my life. Moved to Winnipeg when I was 4. Lived in Stonewall Manitoba for a year. I spent 15 years in Gillam, Manitoba from age 18 to 33, then back to Winnipeg.

People I want to know more about
I'm not going to tag anyone else right now because I'm not sure who all has been tagged already.

Our Yard

2008-07-18T22:31:00.003-06:00

Basement Renovations

2008-07-09T14:14:00.005-06:00

We've been renovating the basement of our 1970's bungalow since shortly after Christmas. I just now realized that I don't have any 'before pictures'. It was wood panelling painted yellow, 1970's geometric brown and orange rubber backed carpet, and hanging ceiling...you know, those ugly ceiling tiles. Really dark and dingy.

We pulled all the panelling off, upgraded the insulation, ripped down a closet that was in the middle of the space, tore down a wall that was used to create a 'storage' room. Moved shelving into the furnace/water heater room to use as shelving. Ripped out the wall that was used to create a 'cold' room off the laundry room. Insulated and drywalled, painted and put shelves in the space for more storage.

The old storage room became an space for my excercise equipment. We used laminate floor in this space to make it easier to clean and move the equipment around if I want. In the pictures below I put a black chair as reference. The main space is 15' x 30'. Tonight we'll be moving furniture down there. I'll take more pictures when it's furnished.

The Left Twist stitch

2008-05-03T19:36:00.004-06:00

The Left Twist is really a two stitch left leaning cable. You can put the first stitch on a cable needle and hold it in front, knit the second stitch, then knit the one from the cable needle. Or, you can knit into the back of the second stitch, pull the loop thru, but do not take the original stitch off the needle. Knit the first stitch, then remove them both from the left needle.

how I Knit

2008-05-03T17:39:00.004-06:00

There's a thread on Ravelry asking 'I'll show you mine if....' well it's all about the many different ways people knit. This is a bad video of How I Knit. First the Purl stitch, then the Knit stitch.

Two-Colour Lever style knitting

2008-03-31T21:11:00.006-06:00

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This is a bad video of how I knit with two colours. I suggest you turn off your sound as my husband, the not-so-professional photographer has a bit of a cold and coughs part way through the video. I don't speak, so I don't know why he had the sound on....

Anyway, I hold both strands in my right hand, one in front of my index finger and one behind. I do both knit and purl this way. I am now humbled at how hard it is to knit when someone has a camera trained on your every motion! I can't believe how nervous it made me!

Casting On

2008-03-30T09:22:00.002-06:00

I just found a 'new to me' cast on that I think may quickly become my favourite!

I found it on You Tube It has a definite purl bump on one side and a nice neat chain on the other. It seems to be very stretchy. I'm going to have to play with it a bit more to confirm the stretchiness.

Benign Positional Vertigo

2008-01-24T17:27:00.000-06:00

or as Pat calls me 'Dizzy Lizzy'. This has been going on for 2 or 3 weeks now. Went to the dr. and got some novo-betahistine for the symptoms...it helps a bit, but I can't walk on the treadmill. I've missed about 6 days now. I've still been doing Pilates 3 times a week, but it's not pleasant!

On a positive note, I have finished the back of Elsebeth Lavolds Borghild I'm using Austermann's Inka Colour in a Dark Teal tweed. Very pretty!

As I have 3 sweaters on the go for myself I've decided to finish all the backs first. Next up is Elsebeth Lavolds Blossom which is done to the armhole decreases. I'll switch off between this and Berroco's Pamela because Pamela is knit with Caron Simply Soft on 6mms and my hands get a bit sore. This one needs one more cable repeat until I decrease for the armholes.

What to do with this yarn? Part 3

2008-01-18T18:52:00.001-06:00

knit 020
Originally uploaded by therealhaze

How about now? Yup, all those beautiful cables, and they just disappear on this yarn. I decided to rip this out and knit something else.... But WHAT? Back to researching....
Yup, spent the better part of today on Ravelry looking at patterns. On several websites....

First I fell in love with the Wrapigan I was thinking I could do something like this.. but I can't wear that at work. So do I still want this yarn for something to wear on those cold office days, or am I changing my mind totally... Back to research. And yes... Berroco.com WOW!! THIS IS IT!! Isn't that gorgeous!! But wait a minute. That's more cables that will just disappear.

I finally made a decision! I have pulled the back out of the drawer. I have ripped. Ripped right back to the decrease for the armholes, put it back on the needles. Yes, I have decided to just finish this as originally planned. No the cables won't stand out. But it will still serve the purpose of being soft, warm, snuggly and tough!

What to do with this yarn? Part 2

2008-01-18T18:49:00.001-06:00

knit 019
Originally uploaded by therealhaze

Here it is, the back. doesn't look too bad right? Can you tell there are 4 large cables on that back?

What to do with this yarn?

2008-01-18T16:00:00.000-06:00

Rhetorical question, I don't really want someone to answer...

I bought 15 skeins of Caron Simply Soft Shadows to knit myself a sweater to leave in the office for those days they have the AC cranked when it's -40c outside. I opted for acrylic because it will take the abuse of being rolled over by the office chair, and should it grow legs and move out of my office, I won't cry over the cost....and quite simply, Simply Soft is soft and comfy.

After much research (you know, googling free patterns, getting sidetracked and reading blogs and bbs, shopping online etc.) I decided on Berroco's Pamela. It looks cosy, it's got big cables, which are a weakness to me, and it doesn't look like it needs buttons.

So I started knitting, and I was almost finished the back when it dawned on me that I didn't do my usual 'lengthen the darn thing because I'm 5'9" and don't like short sweaters' thing. I did what every good knitter does at this point, and tossed it into a drawer to be ripped back at a later date.

More later.....

A New Year, A new me....(Part 2)

2008-01-16T13:32:00.000-06:00

In November I became serious about getting ~~more~~ some exercise.

Because I'm now over 50 (yes, as in Years of Age), my metabolism is slower than what it used to be, and the doctor informed me that quitting smoking was going to slow it down even more. This is not good news to my already overweight body.

Enter new treadmill.... and the will to use the treadmill for it's intended purpose, which is to actually walk or jog on it. Since the treadmill entered our home in November I have used it pretty faithfully (enough that the husband says he's proud of me). I try for 5 days a week. I've made it 4 and I've made it 6. I think I've even done all 7 days one week. I aim for 35 minutes, but some days my knees only allow me to go for 10 or 20. The 10 minute days I do it twice during the day. While I haven't lost any weight yet, at least I'm not gaining! I thought I'd gain quite a bit with the quitting smoking, in fact my doctor told me to expect 10 to 30 pounds!! I've been bouncing in the 5 to 8 range, and considering Christmas was in there, and I did NOT ignore the chocolates.... Let's just say I'm satisfied ;)

Now that Christmas is over and I'm nearing the 5 month mark (doctor also said the weight gain would slow down and reverse in months 6 to 12 as my body adjusted). I have now added 20 minutes of Pilate's every second day. My step-daughter comes by and does them with me. This keeps us both honest.

I also have a York Home Gym, so on the non-Pilate days I'm trying to do a good 15 to 20 minute routine with the weights.

Next up will be a change in the eating habits...but as I said, baby steps!

KNITTING!

I am knitting quite a bit. Over the past couple of evenings I knit a scarf for Pat. (That's The Husband for anyone that didn't know). I knit this one, using a Woven Basket Stitch.

Now it's back to work on Elsbeth Lavolds Blossom for me :)

A New Year, A new me....(Part 1)

2008-01-15T09:34:00.000-06:00

Maybe....I'm hoping...but I'm not the Creative Procrastinator for naught!

September 4th, 2007 I quit smoking! Yup!! I did it.

I've been quitting for over 30 years (since I was preggers with my son...I managed to quit then from the time it started making me sick, about 2 months into the pregnancy, until delivery day...then as I was laying in the hospital bed, trying to tough out a 'natural delivery' (This was 1975), the nurse came in wheeling in an oxygen tank and mask.... I says, whooaaaa, that's oxygen right? That means I can't smoke with that in here right? She looked at me, my Husband looked at me... "you don't smoke"... I do now!! Get that out of here and bring me a cigarette!!" Ahh the good old days, when you could lay in a hospital bed, giving birth, and light up!....

I digress.... since then I've been patched, acupunctured, hypnotized, zybanned and gummed. I've tried just about every quit smoking aid the anti-smokers have been able to come up with... nothing worked for very long.

This time I used Champix. It's a dopamine inhibitor put out by Pfizer. It's a 12 week program. Much like Zyban, you start taking it a week to 10 days before 'The Quit Day'. So I picked the Tuesday After September Long Weekend... this way I could spend the last weekend of the summer at the lake, smoking and drinking like a good Canadian!

Come Monday the 3rd I so did NOT want to quit. I'M NOT READY!!! But I persevered. I had made the decision and I was sticking to it. I also had a cold from sitting outside most of the weekend..... anyway, Yes, I stuck to it. One of the side-effects of Champix is nausea. At Week 9 I decided to go off the Champix because the nausea was not going away. I thought if I get cravings, I'll go right back on it.... Well, it's been 4 and a half months now. I have absolutely NO DESIRE to smoke! Matter of fact, as much as I hate to become 'one of those'... I find it repulsive, stinky, and yes, gross. Champix is not for everyone. The Husband tried at the same time... he's still stinky ;).

My Stashroom

2007-12-17T17:16:00.000-06:00

Several boards, including Ravelry, have threads asking for us to show off our stash.....so here it is!

To the left is peaking into the door...oh wait, that doesn't look like a stash room, it looks like a computer room..... but behind that closet door...

To see more pictures of what I ~~hide~~ errr... store... in my stashroom you can take a peek HERE

New Needles and Swatching and more De-Stashing....

2007-11-05T11:18:00.000-06:00

I finally got my set of Harmony Options! They are beautiful. I admired, I drooled, I made DH drool (okay, he did the obligatory run his finger up the side of one needle, rolled his eyes and asked me if I wanted to go out and play in HIS toolbox. I organized. I knew I'd quickly loose track of what size is what, and never being able to find one my needle gauges when I really need one, I cut that cardboard that the tips were attached on, into strips that would fit in the slots in the little vinyl pouch. So each slot now has a label with the size of the needle that belongs there. So If I can just stay organized and put them back into the right slow But beauty does not necessarily mean they will be good to knit with. We all know that looks will only take you so far in this world.

I need to put these puppies to work. What would be the best way to try out all the sizes in a relatively short time? Swatching!! ahhhaa!!! My house could probably be seen from outer space the light bulb came on so brightly!! Once a month for nearly 2 years now I have been receiving this really nice little packet in the mail from Elann.com. It contains 4 'swatch size' samples of the yarns they will be showcasing the following month, plus colour samples of each of the 4 yarns, plus a news letter that has pattern ideas for each of the yarns (and I wonder why Elann gets so much of my take home pay..but that's another story).

I started with the most recent envelope (obviously because it was still sitting on my desk in fairly easy reach). I swatched, and I swatched. And I now have a basket with 2 years worth of samples from Elann all swatched up and labelled.

De-stashinating!

2007-10-26T13:08:00.000-06:00

(yeah, yeah, I know it's been almost a year...I forgot my password...;)

I've been doing way more knitting than stitching the last year...or two... so the past few weeks I've been going thru all my stitching stash and trying to be honest about what I will really stitch. I've weeded it down to the bare minimum to finish my WIPS and a couple dozen or so projects that I really love. How liberating!! I didn't realize just how oppressive it is to have all that stash waiting for my attention! It is a bit sad that all that empty space is very rapidly being filled with Knitting stash, which, by the way, takes up a lot more space that a stitching stash!

I've been selling my stitching stash off on the bay of evil (the_real_haze.) I've just about broken even on the buying and selling! Who ever says you can make a living selling on ebay lies!

I also am now on Ravelry! one word.. WOW!!!! It sure didn't take much to totally lose 4 hours of my life without realizing it! I can really see how I could spend way more time talking (or typing) and reading about knitting than actually doing it!

okay, that's the promised (to myself) post for today! I'm going to blog this weekend about my Master of Knitting Level One progress and I'm going to blog about my adventures in gardening!

baby & child sweaters

2006-11-12T15:48:00.001-06:00

I just got back from ThunderBay, where the sweaters I knit for my granddaughters and their cousins were very well received.

I knit this one for the newborn cousin. It's knit with Bernat Baby Blanket yarn. It's cloudsoft!

This one is for my 1 year old granddaughter. It's knit with Caron SimplySoft.

This one is for the 3 year old cousin. Knit with Paton's Astra.

And this one is for my nearly 5 year old granddaughter, knit with Caron Simply Soft.

and now onto Christmas gift knitting!

Socks! Socks! and more Socks!

2006-03-08T20:18:00.000-06:00

I'm on a sock fetish this week! I've knit two pair for my DD's 29th birthday And I've started a pair for myself

The one pair for Dana have the heels and toes in different colours. This is because I had knit her a pair for Christmas and she said 'oh you didn't have to make them match!'...so okay, I won't LOL!! I have 3 more skeins of Opal to knit up, then I'm going to use the remnants from each skein to make kiddy socks for the granddaughters.

2006-02-20T13:30:00.001-06:00

Not one stitch this weekend!! Dang that Nora Roberts anyway! LOL! I was caught up in reading Blue Smoke. Everytime I sat down in my stitching chair that book would end up on my lap! I finished it late Sunday afternoon, and as I was returning it to the bookshelf Dancing Naked at the Edge of Dawn, by Kris Radish flew off the shelf and into my hands!! So far, I'm really enjoying this one!

My stitching goal for this week is to get the quilt square stitched for Laura's Quilt. And if I'm really good, maybe get some more done on Firefly Fairies.

Wow! Where did the last month go?

2006-02-17T15:05:00.000-06:00

I took a weekend trip to visit my grandbaby in ThunderBay. Took DS's sweater with me. It was a near perfect fit! Sleeves could have been an inch shorter, but he wouldn't let me shorten them...said he liked them just fine. But after all that I forgot to take a picture of him in it! I've emailed and asked them to send one, so we'll see LOL!

I never did start a knitting project for the Knitting Olympics. I've been switching off between reading trashy novels and stitching on FireFly Fairies. I've decided to add Aiden's (grandbaby) information to it and have it framed for her first birthday...which thankfully isn't until next fall!

Now DH has been pestering me for months to knit him a pair of sloppers...(sock/slippers). I haven't been able to find a pattern on-line tho. I thought I had found one HERE but after trying different sized needles to get the right size I still was knitting a small childs slipper LOL!! So if anyone knows of a good free mens slipper pattern.....

and for my next project....

2006-01-20T08:44:00.000-06:00

I have some beautiful coton, some rowanspun aran, and noro silkgarden all of which were to be made into sweaters for me!

The Noro SilkGarden - I did knit the 'Tilt' pattern from Knitty.com with this, but it hangs like a dishrag. I'll be ripping it all out and re-using the yarn. I'm considering knitting Isabella with it....not sure how the self-striping of SilkGarden will work with this, but I think I may knit a bit of it to see.....

With the Coton I have, I'm thinking of knitting Vanessa My yarn is almost identical to this pale blue.

And finally, with the Rowanspun Aran (it's a deep red with the flecks of multi-colour in it). I'm still pattern hunting, but I'm looking for something along THIS Line.

I'd like to join in on the Knitting Olympics as posted by YarnHarlot. Anyone have any opinions on Which of the 3 projects I should do, or any other suggestions for what I could knit with the yarns I have?

and I'm in the home stretch!!

2006-01-20T07:38:00.000-06:00

I got the sleeves finished! They have a 'saddle' shoulder. I've never come across one of these before! When I laid the pieces all out to start fitting them together I realized that had a made a BIG booboo! I kept forgetting which size I was actually knitting and followed some instructions for the XL, some for XXL..... oops!

Turns out not to be too big a problem. I added a couple of inches to each side of the 'Saddle'. Got the sleeves sewn onto the back and the front shoulder seams now, and did up one sleeve seam.

Tonight I'll do the other sleeve seam and get the sleeves attached to the armholes and get the side seams sewn...... THEN it's the zippered collar! Another first for me. I've done lots of button plackets, but never a zipper :) Should be interesting!

Purl, Knit, Knit Knit, Purl, Knit Knit Knit, Purl

2006-01-11T10:49:00.000-06:00

Ribbed Moss stitch sleeves!! Blech!

This is just a small rant about my current project. One of those things I just need to rant about LOL!

I'm knitting a sweater for my son. I started it before Christmas. Finished the back. Finished the front. Started the sleeves.

The sweater is a pullover with a short zippered mock turtle neck. The bottom bands, the sleeves and the collar are done in Ribbed Moss stitch. Very Simple right? As long as you pay attention it is! It seems to be taking forever to knit these sleeves because on every 4th row I'm increasing on both ends. This changes the stitch order and I have to adjust my brain each row to make sure I'm keeping to the rib pattern. I'm about 2 increases (8 rows) away from being able to knit mindlessly using 2 alternate rows. I'm really hoping to get these sleeves done by Saturday so I can put it together on Sunday and knit the collar. That will give me a few days to play with getting the zipper in properly.

I am going to Thunder Bay to visit on Jan. 28th. I really really want to get this sweater finished and take it with me!! I'll post some pictures when it's done.

Adventures with Sewing

2006-01-08T14:43:00.000-06:00

Yes Sewing! as in with a machine!

I used to sew back in the 70's. I'm not good, but I can get by and actually wore some of the items I made. My sewing machine is a 1970's Kenmore Freearm. What a great machine this has been!

10 years ago we bought and moved into a very tiny little house. There was no room for my sewing machine (it's in a nice desk style cabinet). The mother of a good friend of ours was a seamstress by trade. She was in her 70's and didn't want to buy a new machine, so it worked out great to store mine at her house. She made her granddaughter's wedding dress and the bridesmaids' dresses on it. Over the past couple of years she has been losing her eyesight to catacts that are inoperable. So when we moved in July I didn't feel bad getting my sewing machine home.

All I've done with it since July is to make a couple of baby blankets for my granddaughter. This consisted of sewing satin blanket binding onto blanket fleece. Easy Peasy!!

As I mentioned yesterday, we have been painting. All the curtains and curtain rods are down. The kitchen curtain was a long, ecru, linen scarf. I never did get the knack of hanging it on the rod properly. This morning I looked at it and had a light bulb moment!!

I laid it out and found the center. Put a marking pin at the center point. I measured from the center to the end of the rods, and then measured 2.5 times that on the fabric from the marking pin, both sides and put a pin on each end. This gave the width I need with lots of gathering. I then made a 4 inch deep double pocket across the top, between end pins, using a large basting stitch. Then I sewed two basting lines from the bottom of the pocket, at each end, down the width of the fabric. I gathered these up tight, tied the ends off and VOILA!

After hanging them, I realized I was off center by about 1/2 inch... I also think I'm going to put some gathers on the part that hangs over window so I can pull it up a bit shorter. Overall not too bad for a first attempt and no idea what I was doing LOL!

January 7, 2005

2006-01-07T12:40:00.000-06:00

Welcome to my new and 'hopefully' improved blog! I'll be working on this for the next few days, so stay tuned for updates on my stitching, knitting, reading, and thoughts in general.

We are in the midst of painting the living room, dining room, kitchen, front entrance and hallway. The dining room is done. DH is doing the kitchen right now. I've got the tape peeled off in the dining room and half the kitchen. Curtains are rehung in the DR also :)

I think picking colours for your home is one of the toughest home renovation decisions we make. The walls in all these rooms were a pale blue, with a deep turquoise green on the bottom half of the dining room/kitchen. I find blue to be so cold. Emotionally I mean. As much as I love my house, I've never felt that really heart warming "I'm Home" feeling since we moved. I think (and hope) that the new paint will cure that :) The bottom half of the dining room and kitchen are now a nice warm 'Oakwood Brown'. The top half, separated by a white chair rail, is 'French Castle'. The living room will have two walls in French Castle, and the long wall that divides the kitchen, dining room and extends into the front entrance will be 'Kangaroo Tan', which is the next shade up on the colour card from French Castle...so just a bit lighter. The entrance and hallways will all be Kangaroo Tan.

Looking at the posting screen on Blogger.... French Castle is very close to the 'frame' colour LOL!