Freezing my patootie!

I never thought I would miss Louisiana... and I don't. I miss Texas though. I saw the temp in San Antonio was in the 60's yesterday and almost cried. Oh, have I turned into a sissy! I haven't even stepped outside since Tuesday. The radiator in our kitchen went kaputz and the thought of doing dishes in 45 degrees is not appealling. Sending hubbie for a portable heater while we figure out what to do.
All projects are on hold until I get slippers made for everyone. Socks are just not cutting it and I don't like wearing shoes all day. Besides I found the cutest crochet slippers yesterday that look easy enough to figure out. I was going to convert them into knit, but the crochet looks sturdier than knit would. Now I have to find some scrap leather.

What has also been occupying my time is potty training. Yes, Asa is only 13 months, but I've been reading about infant potty training and realized we could do it easily. I've always known when Asa was doing his business, #1 and #2, so I thought why not stick him on the potty. Either Asa is brilliant or babies can be potty trained. Yes, at this age it is more that the parents are trained than the baby, but why not. It doesn't hurt him, he'll become "really" potty trained earlier, and I'll have less diapers to wash. He actually walked up to me yesterday and said, "pss" which is the sound I make to cue him to pee. I put him on the potty and sure enough, he had to go. Like I said, he's brilliant. Don't worry, if I go out, I will have a diaper on him. I don't mind cleaning up misses, but I won't make anyone else clean up a miss :-)

Have I mentioned, I'm freezing!

Spreadin' the word

I got to visit my most favoritest LYS in the whole world this last weekend. I'm partial to it because 2 of my high school teachers that I adore own and run the store. It's also in a very old downtown building that suits it so well. They are the ones that got me addicted to gourmet yarn. When I first started knitting, I couldn't find any decent patterns or yarn out there. It drove me nuts because I knew there had to be more than acrylic yarn, I just didn't know where to get it. Plus, you see beautiful sweaters in the store, there had to be patterns out there that weren't horribly dated like the ones I would find at the craft stores. Then the Tangled Skein opened up and introduced me to a whole new world! I taught the beginner's knitting class there the summer before we moved and I also knit sample sweaters for them. I thought that was a pretty sweet deal. They gave me the yarn and I knit them the sweater. They kept it for a year to display and then after that it was mine. I miss them and my free yarn!

Anyway, they hadn't heard of Ravelry yet!!! I gave them the low down, of course!

Today...
Finish up a new sweater/wrap/kimono idea that came to me yesterday. Crazy awesome! Knit from the sleeve up with short rows to turn the shoulder. I'll post pics soon. It's in baby size, but I may make this into a big person sweater in bamboo (I've got 7 lbs of it to use up!)

But first, I need to shower. Asa needs to take longer naps, so much to do in so short a time!

Back from Vacation!

We made our first trip home to Minnesota as a family! I'v been home a number of times since moving away, but this was hubby's first time home in over 2 1/2 years. We were only there a few days and didn't get to see a lot of people. Hopefully we'll be able to make up for that at Christmas.

Got the biopsy results from my most recent mole removal and both came back fine, no cancer! That's been a big relief for me. Out of the 12 total moles I've had removed only one came back malignant.

Today I am catching up on emails, processing orders from the weekend and lanolizing a couple pairs of customs. Busy busy busy. I made a super cute pair of Leaf Lace longies, a soaker and a sweater to match a pair of hot pink longies all over the weekend. Will post pics as soon as they are blocked.

Minnesota, here we come!

I'm takin' off for the weekend in just a couple hours, provided I get my butt off the computer and start packing!

10 hours of straight knitting, I can't wait!!! I wonder how much I can get done in 10 hours. I have a pair of leaf lace longies on my needles now and a bag full of yarn to bring along. I'm hoping to get at least 1 sweater made to take to the baby boutique in Mankato.

Minot is the happenin' place!

Yeah! I just got back from visiting my LYS. Love it! I'm so glad they are here, no more yucky yarn from Hobby Lobby for me. I still purchase a lot over the internet, but it's so much nicer to be able to hold the yarn in your hands. Of course I was about 10 miles out of the city when I remembered what I really wanted to purchase. I'll just have to stop in again later this week :-) I have an idea in my head for a funky pair of pants but don't have the right colors on hand.

I did come away with some pretty yarn that I'm eager to try. Not the softest, but the price was right. I'm thinking it will probably soften up with use.

I'm thinking Leaf Lace Sweater or britches for the green and a pair of "blue jeans" with the blue.

Lastly, here is what I'm working on now.

I am lovin' this! If I can ever get myself off the computer I'll be able to finish it in about an hour.

Now I'm off to do some packin'! We're spending Thanksgiving in Minnesota. Not looking forward to 10+ hours packed in the Scion with 3 rambunctious boys, but I should get some good knitting time in.

Noise!

I don't know how I get anything done with all the noise in this house. If the baby is yelling, big brothers have to join in on the noise imitating him. If he's not screaming, big brothers are quick to make him scream. What I want for Christmas is a day of silence. I'm so used to all the chaos that silence would probably drive me nuts :-)

The stitches on my hip are still pretty sore. I realized I've been holding Asa right on my stitches probably pulling at them and aggrivating them. My muscles just aren't built up enough on the other side to hold him on my right hip.

Enough complaining for now. Almost done with the plain baby bag. It looks like a Christmas tree! I may have to do a duplicate st Christmas tree on it later. I just have about 2" of knitting and then the bottom to work.

Surgery ain't gonna slow me down!

Ok maybe it will a little. Docs found a malignant melanoma on my back in August. Now that I've had it, every mole that is even remotely suspicious gets removed. They don't just shave it off either, they take a pretty big chunk of me with it. All this just to say I had 2 removed yesterday and am surprisingly sore from it (I guess 10 stitches is nothing to baulk at). I have to go in every 3 months for full body checks and I sure hope they don't find anymore. I have a total of 11 holes in me now and I tell ya, I'm wearing my sunscreen religiously. So I have an excuse to sit and knit all day today, so that's just what I'm going to do.

Wear your sunscreen!

Now available, in store (singular)

I got all my inventory shipped off to the artisan gallery "Stone's Throw" in my hometown of St. Peter, Minnesota! I'm so excited, my designs are now available in store (there's only one so I can't say stores :-) When I go home to visit next weekend, I'll make a stop at another baby boutique that will hopefully be interested in carrying my wool soakers for cloth diapering, cross my fingers.

I've had lots of people asking me about the Adorabubble Baby Bag. It's getting cold and mamas want to keep their babies warm and safe. It's still a few weeks away from completion. The cabled bag is being tested by 4 wonderful ladies as we speak. It is a pretty big project so just the testing part will take a while. I'm working on perfecting the fit on plain one. My biggest complaint about raglan sweaters is by the time you get the raglan yoke long enough, if you increase ever alternate round, you end up with a very very big body. We're talking 28" circumference for a 6 month old. I don't want it to be so baggy that it becomes a safety issue. So after knitting and ripping the yoke of my proto 4 times, I think I have it figured out. Now I just need to work out the fitting on the other sizes (3 sizes will be offered, small, med, large).

Baby Bag Book

Oy vey! This baby bag is turning into another book. What can I say, I like options! I want people to be able to play with my patterns and turn them into their own works of art. I also want people of all skill levels to be able to do this, so this turns my patterns into books. I'm adding a size, since the large ended up considerably smaller than I planned (either that or I have a fat baby). Still looks cute on him, it's just a lot tighter than I was wanting. I'd like it to be big enough to have light pj's on underneath.

Other options I'm working on adding are:
hood (optionally detachable)
plain, no cables
open bottom
closed bottom
button down the front
button down the sleeve
just a basic sweater
different cuff options
sleeveless bag-buttons over the shoulders

So, it will probably not be released in time for this winter, maybe in time for an Australian winter. We'll see. I'm having fun writing it (if you consider knitting and ripping, knitting and ripping, knitting and ripping fun).

Holiday, is there ever such a thing?

Well, I got my room finished, yeah! It is currently the only clean room in this house. I've got lots of housework to do today and the kids and hubbie have the day off so they can help me! I'm so nice. I always hated it when my mom would make me clean on a holiday, now I understand.
I was so excited to use my room yesterday. I knit up another bamboo diaper, new and improved pattern. I got my sewing machine, fresh from the shop, set up only to find the bobbin case missing. Argh!!! I've got a whole bunch of labels to sew onto sweaters to send off to the boutique and now I either have to hand sew them or just send them without labels. I'm leaning toward the later. I think I'll just make a cool hang tag instead.

Creating my studio!

Today I'm cleaning house! I've had my yarn and supplies all over the house in a complete mess and it's driving me mad. So, I'm cleaning out the guest bedroom and turning that into my "studio." We'll be putting shelves up, moving the bed out, and organizing all my crap. Knitting machine, sewing machine, everything is going up there. I've resisted putting it upstairs because I never go upstairs, but I've just gotta make myself. It doesn't mean I have to knit up there, I'm just containing the mess to one room.

Yeah! I have my own room!

Knittin' up some winter gear

Ok, the temp has plummetted and I need to keep us warm. Everything is on hold until I get some hats, mittens and scarves knit up. I'll probably be posting a couple new patterns as I go along so business won't be totally halted. Things I'm going to make for the kiddos and the big kiddos is a reversible at with mosaic design, a scarf hoodie with cables (I don't like the construction of the ones I've seen so this will be a new design), and reversible mittens.
First up, the hat. I've got one plain one done. Next one I'm going to mix things up a bit and add some colorwork to the body.

Footsies!

Still takin' a break for the baby bag. Got the beast part done and just need to stay away for a couple days.

So, workin' on additions to the britches pattern today. I've got all the details worked out to make it top-down and am lovin' it!!! No grafting and holes are easier to close up. This will definitely go in the pattern. Making it almost 20 pages long!! I think I should start calling a book instead :-)

As I'm working on putting footsies on it, I ran across a great short row method and extra stretchy bind off method. Both will be put in the pattern. So much to do... Anyway, Cat Bordhi's short row method is by far the best I've worked. Her video makes it even more easy to learn. Yay short rows! Now you will look forward to working your short rows!

I lied

I lied. I'm not going to work on the baby bag today. I need a break from that beast. I don't even want to look at it after yesterday.

So, instead I'm altering my britches pattern to make it top down. I think I am really going to like it this way. No grafting, no holes to stitch up at the end, awesome! I may add some feet at the bottom also. It's getting cold here and kiddo needs to stay warm at night (that should be my excuse to finish the baby bag).

One of these days I'm going to take a break from knitting. I don't think I'll enjoy it though. I love knitting. Ok, maybe I'll take a break from working on a pattern and just knit something for fun. Ya right!

Thank you hubbie!

Hubbie took the kids to the gym yesterday and I finished the rough draft for the Adorabubble Baby Bag! Yeah!!! Boy, was yesterday a loooong day. It took me a good 8 hours of straight computer work to get it done. It's amazing how long it takes to write a pattern.

Today I'm going to get the rough draft done for the plain bag. This shouldn't take me nearly as long since I don't have to write out charts and all. Much much simpler. I'm also going to work out the details for making a hole for a carseat buckle. I'd hate to spend so much time on a gorgeous outfit only for it to be usable at home. You want to take babe out in it to show off all your hardwork!

Thanks to all my testers out there!

Figured it out!

Whew! I finally figured out how to write the Adorabubble Bag in an easy to read way. I started writing it out row for row and ugh, it was horrible. I thought, graphing it would be easiest, but then how do I do that? I figured it out and am mapping out today. If only I could convince hubbie to take the kiddos and then I could get in some serious computer time.

Hats

I've gotta finish up at least one hat today. It's getting cold and my friend's kiddos need their noggins covered.

Here is a completed hat:



Now for something different...

Curse you, Ravelry!

Oooh, this Ravelry is evil. Now I will get nothing done. I'm still sitting in my pj's, no shower, no breakfast, dishes are taking over the kitchen, and diapers need to be washed. My life will never be the same, sorry kids, sorry hubbie!

I have to turn the computer off or nothing, nothing, nothing will get done today.