Christmas coat

One day my five-year-old daughter, Anna, looked in my closet and saw a little green coat hanging. She asked me about it; I told her it was the coat that I had knit for her when she was about two years old. I told her that she had outgrown it.  She wanted to try it on anyway, insisting that it would fit her. Well, it did fit around her chest but the sleeves only went to her elbows - not very useful for a coat. The yarn had been discounted and I'd long since ran out n my stash, and the coat was felted anyway.  I couldn’t invasion a way to lengthen the sleeves that I would be satisfied with, so I had put it away for another child to enjoy someday.

Anna kept talking about her coat.  She wanted to visit and hug it.  I recalled that I had received some gorgeous wine-red Lopi bulky yarn in a craft swap.  It would be perfect for another coat!  Christmas was coming soon, and it would be a perfect gift.

Think of a Happy Thought, Any Happy Little Thought

Where did the week go?  I've been concentrating hard on my project list that I've barely noticed the individual days go by.  All in all, it has been a pretty good week. :)

Yes, I researched, prayed, cried, and voted.  I have been avoiding the nasty social media war.  

Please, lets not talk about it here.  Happy thoughts only!

Last Saturday I put the finishing touches on the hats my aunt commissioned me to make for Christmas gifts.  I would recommend both these patterns and the yarn I used.  

Trying to Catch My Breath

I'm trying to catch my breath over here for a moment so I can tell you all what I've been up to!  The time crunch last week was so severe that I didn't have time to stop and write my weekly blog, so now I have a lot of catching up to do here.

Thomas' birthday was in September, but as it was such a difficult month I couldn't do his birthday party yet.  Then my husband got a big electronics order from the company he works for; he worked on it evenings and weekends.  So that meant that I couldn't host a party here, so then I started thinking about putting the money up for renting the community room that our apartments has for events. The more I thought of it, the more I liked the idea.

We don't have a tiny apartment, but it isn't huge either so we can only host small parties here.  Having it at the community center would open it up to being able to invite anyone / everyone he wanted.  Since he really wanted to have a table top game (board games, dice games, card games) party, this would be a great time to do the big party thing!

Never a Dull Moment

I recently wrote a detailed account about what was going on with my ferret, Pandora, in another post.  In between all that drama I had other things going on, of course.  Nothing is ever simple around here!  Did I mention that I finally caught my kid's cold over the weekend?  (Frequently going out in the storm washing helping things.)  Blur and Anna both came down with a second cold, too, so we were all miserable.  'Tis the season!  This threw Blur's new schedule all out of whack, and he had been making great progress with his sleep / wake cycle. 

I started knitting a stocking cap for my nephew while I was visiting family in June.  He requested a slouchy black beanie with a symbol from his favorite anime, Fairy Tail, on it.  He has a large head and sock yarn with size 3 needles takes a long time to knit a beanie.  So unfortunately I didn't get it finished while I was there.  I did finish knitting it sometime after I got home, however when I found a model with a similarly sized head I found that the hat fit perfectly... not slouchy.  So I was going to have to frog out the decreases and knit about 3 inches more.  Well I finally got around to doing that last week and finished the hat a second time.

Next came the hard part; duplicate stitching.  I had in my mind that the emblem was going to be fairly

Carpet & Tinking

This last week I have been very busy doing non-crafting things.  I am now watching one of Thomas' classmates, and his sister, before and after school.  I had to do a bunch of setup to start our routine off right!  First I bought a carpet cleaner and started cleaning the carpets!  They still need a second (and maybe a third) round of cleaning, but at least it no longer looks like I'm running a zoo!  (No more monkeys spilling milk, etc, all over the floor, please!  Ick!)  I'm monitoring closer than ever to make sure Thomas and Anna behave with their food, however still somehow a banana peel made its way under the couch.  Grrr.

After I started the carpets I went and bought a small cabinet, too.  I assembled it and put in puzzles, activity books, Playmobile people, games, etc, in it.  The kiddos are supposed to ask before they dive in so I can make sure all the pieces get put back away.   So far so good.   I'm thinking about getting a second cabinet.

I picked up my nephew's hat this week again.  I started it in June when I was on vacation visiting family but didn't finish before I left.  He wanted a slouchy hat but I underestimated the length and finished it too early.  I decided to pick it up again and rip back to the decreases.  Lots of tiny black stitches on size 3 needles.

Then on Monday it was knit night at West Slope Community Library.  I trouble shoot and teach basic knitting.  We had three new people this time!  Two were new knitters and one was teaching the other (the best way to learn is to teach!)  I backed them up as they had questions.  Another woman had put down knitting for about 3 years as she dealt with various life stuff and wanted help figuring out where she was on the pattern of a gorgeous scarf she was working on.  I helped her figure out which row she was at by "tink" ing (that is "knit"ing backwards) the last couple of rows.  She was having trouble getting back into the groove so I suggested that she get some plain yarn (the  scarf was textured) and practice the pattern on that for a couple of repeats.  Then when she found her groove again she could jump back into the scarf. :)

I've been taking the hat as my travel knitting this week.  I took it when I went to lunch with a friend and now I've finally re-knit all the yarn that was attached, which is about 2" past where I ripped out to, and need to connect more yarn, .  I think I might go another half-inch or so before I start decreasing again.  (The altoids are because I ate a lot of onions and didn't want to make my friend pass out! lol)

Other than that, I've been busy with kids, cleaning, and reading!  Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series is fun!  I'm reading the second book, Lost in a Good Book, with my sister for our Friday Night knit club.

By the way, I *did* start writing this on Thursday, and I've been pretty good about doing so.  I just don't always finish editing and publishing on Thursday, so perhaps its better to say that I'll publish weekly by Friday, though I'll still be aiming for Thursdays. :)

My back is very fatigued from the week's work so I hope to get back into knitting more and rest a bit this weekend.

TTFN.  Ta ta for now! ;)

Is September Over Yet?

You know it's been a busy week when you have to look back at your own Instagram feed to remember what you've done for the last seven days! lol  Not every week is this overwhelmingly full, but for now you get to enjoy all the juicy details!

15th Thursday

After I finished writing my blog last week I started working on my mending basket.  My husband needed one of his belt loops reattached.  I did this by cutting a small scrap of denim from the stash and pinning it to the inside of the jeans.  I then used matching blue thread and sewed over the hole, using a denim needle in my machine, in multiple directions to create a new bit of secure fabric.  I then trimmed the excess of the patch, then VERY slowly sewed the belt loop down.  About half the time I was manually walking the foot to make sure it wouldn't break.

After that I fixed my daughter's leggings.  She wore a hold in the knee of one pair and experimented with scissors on another pair.  I happened to keep the bottom part of another pair of leggings that I cut off at the knee.  I cut out cute shapes and attached them with fabric spray adhesive before sewing them on.  The patches on the knees I had to sew by hand as they were too tiny of tubes to fit around my machine.

I also started cutting the drapes for Blur's bed.  I planned on just making a tube at 1 end and running

I decided that I didn't like the gauge if my In Time And Space cabled shawl. It was going to be rather small for me and I made plenty of handspun / handdyed yarn for this project. I set it aside and I cast on again, this time with size 8 needles. I'm happy that the cables are still promenant but the shawl

Socks again!

I loved knitting my last pair of socks so much that I cast on another pair. I'd been overworking myself so I'm taking a day or two to take it easier than I normally do. This means mindless knitting and binge watching tv shows. :). 

Socks -finished!

Huray!  I finished my socks and now I have 5 pairs of socks for my drawer!  

Socks

I had been on hiatus from listening to my favorite podcasts for a while.  I recently started listening again.  One of my favorite podcasts is The Knitmore Girls and they have an ongoing contest called #OperationSockDrawer .  Hearing this again resounded with my love for sock knitting and desire to get more than three pairs of hand-knit socks in my drawer, so I got to knitting.  Unfortunately I've been extremely busy with my kids and family life recently so I've not had the time for knitting that I'd like.  These socks have mostly made progress on-the-go.  But today I am finally turning the heal on the second sock!  A new finished pair is just around the corner. :)

Mystery Yarn Game

Are you ready for some laughs at your next knit night?  Try out my fiber-themed game!

Sale!

Hello, everyone!  

I'm in a generous mood (not rare) and feeling un-modest (very rare.).   ;)  

I know my designs are fun and enjoyable otherwise I wouldn't have bothered making them.  lol  I have a high standard for myself and have included ALL the goodies in these patterns, including how-to videos on all the techniques required.

I want you to be able to join in the fun, too!  So to that end, I've made a code "LUCKYME" that will get you 25% off any/all of my patterns on Ravelry though St. Patrick's Day, March 17th.  

(This won't get you a discount on Etsy, though, sorry.)

I am half way through the MKAL for Stitch & Story: The Case of the Missing Yarn.  It is a mystery knit along like no other; there is an actual accompanying mystery story!  

Rachel's Cozy Knits & Designs on Ravelry

Catching Up to Date

In my last blog post I was talking about all the crazy things I had going on last year that overwhelmed me.  I left off at the end of August just as I was being buried alive in projects...

I have always loved September.  For me it represents so many new beginnings;  the first day of school, my birthday, it is even Jewish New Year though I've not particular celebrated it that way.  September 2015 was all about just getting through the next step, one little bit of progress over the mountain path, carefully as to not cause an avalanche.

Here's what I worked on month-by month:

September

Searched through lots of pattern books for ideas for my design

Hand knitted socks for my sister

Used Jamberry nail wraps to quit biting my nails

Started knitting socks for my daughter

Started spinning this SAPGAP yarn order

October

Working out pattern details

Finished my daughter's socks

Wrote, tested and published this hat pattern

Started socks for my son

Hand spun and mailed out all this yarn

November

Sewed box bags for a fiber festival

Sewed a special order bag and an new cube-sized bag

Hand spun and hand dyed this yarn

Hand knit this adorable dragon

Started a fund-raiser for my ferret's surgry

Finished writing the pattern, and got it test knit

Sent off my Geek-Swap package

December

Make custom-order slippers

Dyed wool

Sewed more bags

Sewed a different style bag

Designed new fiber graphics

Hand-combed LOTS of wool

Learned a new style of art-yarn

Dyed this wool

Went on vacation to visit my family!

January

Designed something I haven't revealed yet

Hand knit a skirt for my daughter

Made a custom order of two hats

Finished this SAPGAP art-yarn order

Finally finished my son's socks

Got my ferret her life-saving surgery

Started an MKAL for my latest pattern

Whew!  All that was tiring!  That gets us all caught up!  My husband is still on swing shift so I am still 99% a single parent.  However I am going to be careful as to not overload myself to *that* point again.  I am enjoying my freedom of sitting and enjoying an evening of MY choice instead of trying to keep up with that frantic pace.  I still have a lot to get done, but at a much more reasonable pace. :D  I have lots of exciting things to share with you!

Mystery Knit Along with a Bonus!

Okay.  I'm crawling out from under the heavy work load that I was talking about before.  I was easier for me to just post quick little things to Instagram / Twitter / Facebook and I dropped this blog for a while.  I'm back now and I hope to keep this up!  My blogs may be shorter but I will do my best to keep them consistent.

 

One of my very large time commitments went into a amazing new type of pattern.

A mystery where you participate by knitting the clues.

Yes, you read that right.  I had my friend, Donna Lutz, write a short story to flesh out the outline I had in my head.  Using textured stitches, lace, and cables, I designed 10 panel scenes depicting various stops around a hobby farm as the farmer was following a trail of yarn that had been stolen from her stash.  Following each clue, you get to read about half a page of the story. :)

Another friend pointed out that I should release it as a mystery knit along.  The more I thought of it, the more I realized that it is the ONLY logical way that it should be released. lol  The whole point of this pattern is to completely immerse the knitter in the fiber world for a while to escape the stresses of everyday life.  To that end, I am stretching the knit-along over 20 weeks (1 clue every two weeks) so that there is no stress of keeping up while the rest of life continues on.

The charts come in both color and  black & white so you can choose which suits your needs better as well as master keys to the charts for easy reference.  I also included a list of links to technique videos so you can research any techniques you are unsure of.  When the knit-along is complete you will be able to download the entire 63-page ebook! 

You can get your own copy of the pattern here: 
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/stitch--story-the-case-of-the-missing-yarn

Join the knit-along here:
www.ravelry.com/discuss/rachels-cozy-knits--designs/3331440/www.ravelry.com/discuss/rachels-cozy-knits--designs/3331440/

Color Play

The dyeing I did yesterday cam out too unsaturated so I gave the yarn another go. While I liked the new tones, they are notvwhat I am looking for for this project. I'll have to play with saturation formulas later. After today's effort, I  am happy to say that I reproduced the saturated testcolors  rather well!  

I am well into knitting a second version of the brown bag to be felted. :). For both the felted and tightly-knit versions I am ready to add the intarsia. Now, with dyed and dried yarn in hand, I can begin!

WIPs

My sister asked me today what I had going on and I had to really think about my WIPs*. Since I surprised myself how much I had going when I wrote them all down I thought I'd share them with you. :)

*WIPs is short for Work In Progress; things I have either on the needles or in elsewhere in process.

Completed Sasquatch socks.

1. I'm designing a dice bag. 
2. I'm knitting a pair or socks for a friend (This is third part of a set of three. The Sasquatch socks are done, as are mine. Now I have to make the matching pair for the 3rd person in our set of friends.).  
3. Making a hat for a babysitter.  
4. Working on a SAPGAP trade. 
5. I also have another design hibernating.  (Hopefully it'll come back out soon.
6. Next I want to design some summer driving mitts.  I contemplating a Mario Kart design.  (If you can think of a better geek driving idea, let me know.  I'm still flexible at this stage.)
7. I have an idea for a baby blanket for my sister who is due any day now. (She knows it wont be ready for a few months and she's in California where its 95 degees anyway.)
8. Ongoing charity blanket
9. Ongoing Beekeeper's quilt
10. Drop spindle project
11. Need to set the yarn I finished spinning a couple weeks ago. 
12. A special order box bag. 

 

Lol. I might have a few things to keep me busy. You know, other than my three kids and the housework. :P

 

 



Fiber for second SAPGAP trade.