Category Archives: Crafts


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reswatch

I almost had a minor meltdown, knitting-related, the other night.

I cast on for my adjusted-to-work-flat version of Flugel, written out by rows with the color scheme I’d planned (6 rows white, 1 navy, 1 ribbon).   I didn’t do any fancy calculations (ie: basic math) to see if I’d have enough yarn to work the sweater, because in my head ribbon yarn alone did not equal enough yarn, but ribbon yarn used sparingly with lots of white yarn and some navy of which I have a bagful must equal enough yarn.  I didn’t even look at how much yarn the pattern required because, after all, I had a bagful.

(Let’s ignore that there was never enough white yarn for a whole sweater which is why I’d bought the navy with it, and that my new plan only used the navy for 1 row out of every 7).

So the other night I finished the ribbing, and did the first 6 rows of the sweater, and cut my yarn.  Whee!  I worked a row of navy, and cut the yarn.  Whee!  I worked a row of ribbon, and cut the yarn.  Whee!  I knit a row of white, turned, purled back…and ran out of yarn about 15 sts before the end of the row.

That was my first ball of white.  Hmm.

I checked the yardage for the 1X size of the sweater (I’m knitting the L but with the length of the 1X) and it’s roughly 1080.  I added up the yardage of the 14 balls of white that I have, and it’s 868.  Hmm.

I didn’t bother doing the precise math to see if removing the stitch count for the 2 rows of 8 that are in other yarns, and just let myself assume I don’t have enough.

Sadface.

But yesterday I came up with a plan.

Ok, I won’t have my mostly-white, kinda Parisian sweater, but I will have a sweater.

I stash-dove and found that I have another ribbon, a gold and white mix, that sorta matched.  I also had 100% cotton (dishcloth yarn) in the same gauge.  So I swatched.

First I tried using the dishcloth cotton for the middle 2 rows of every 6.

I know you can’t see a difference, but in person the white 100% cotton looks slightly yellower than the 50% cotton/50% acrylic Summer yarn.  It also looks duller and has more of a halo.  It’s passable, but I think I like the other version better.

dfdf

This is, from the bottom, an alternating 10 row repeat.  6 rows white, 1 navy, 1 blue ribbon, 2 white, then 6 navy, 1 white, 1 white/gold ribbon, 2 navy.

I like this, but think I want to break it up even more.  I just finished retyping out the pattern to be a) flat and b) with my colors written out row-by-row so I don’t have to think while knitting.  I’ve decided to go with the following repeat of colors:

That’s a 13 row repeat of 4 rows white, 1 gold ribbon, 4 white, 1 navy, 1 blue ribbon, 2 white, then the dark version 4 rows navy, 1 gold ribbon, 4 navy, 1 white, 1 gold ribbon, 2 navy, then repeat from the beginning.


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plans for tonight

(ps the story of my absence will come tomorrow…I’ve been on the computer non-stop all day and don’t want to sit here much longer).

My Linden is so close to being done- I’ve only got about a 1/2 inch to go on the lower border, and then I’ll probably end up lengthening the sleeves.  The problem, totally my fault, is that I modified the sweater kinda…knitting a smaller size than my bust to have a narrower lower edge…and while I lengthened the sleeves to the length in my actual size, I forgot to take into account their width.  So my sleeves fit, but actually fit at 3/4 length sleeves instead of having open, slightly oversized 3/4 length sleeves.  I had asked around for opinions on if I should lengthen the sleeves to full length and the general consensus was that the baggier sleeves at full length would probably get annoying, but at 3/4 were perfect.  So I did 3/4…and forgot to account for them to be oversized…so they’re not.  They are just normal, 3/4 length sleeves that don’t seem to make sense with the jacket.  Again- NOT a design issue, TOTALLY me.  I should have cast on for the sleeves in my actual size and then finagled to make them come out to the same by the sleeve cap.  I can block them a bit wider, but they will look better at full length I think.

The problem?

This is how much yarn I have left.  Well, I have more yarn, but it’s in single skeins, and this is knit with the yarn held doubled, actually spun into a doubled skein by Maaike.  I’ll wind 2 balls into cakes later this week, and sometime soon Maaike should be able to spin and set one more b.a.b. (big a$$ ball) for me.

This means that in the meantime I can’t finish Linden.

I deliberately didn’t seek out any chances to publish any designs over the next few months, because I’m going to be off work for a bit after my surgery, and while it would give me ample knitting time, I’m going to take advantage and for the first time…ever?…am going to only knit for me during that time.  And for my kids.  Maybe finish the spidey blanket.  Maybe work on the sock yarn blankies.  Maybe knit myself a sweater.  Ahh the possibilities!

And speaking of possibilities: my plans for tonight.

I plan to swatch.

Exciting, huh?

I’m at least halfway done a 5″ swatch of plain stockinette in laceweight, so I want to finish that and free up my little “purse knitting” bag to tuck in a new pair of socks (March/April needs a pair).  I think I can get the rest of it done tonight, and then I plan to swatch up some fun ribbon yarn.

 

It’s not purple like it appears, the yarn is actually varying shades of blue, from a silverish hue through medium down to indigo/navy.  My mom had knit it up into a long, wide garter scarf which was lovely- if it were a shawl.  As a scarf it was huge and heavy and I showed her how to use her ball winder and meter counter this weekend and we ripped it back into cakes.  (FYI- ribbon yarn and meter counters don’t play nice together.  I ran through 4 other random yarns with no problem, but every time I tried to put the ribbon through it would stop counting).

Anyways, I had admired the yarn and Mom gave it to me.  I want to make it into some kind of summer top, either an open-knit loose tee to wear over a tank, or a no-closure cardigan with short sleeves.  I only have these 4 balls, and there is only about 250 yards total, with no ball band so I can’t try to find more.  So I know whatever it is, it will have to be open-knit, on larger needles, to give me more area while using up less yarn.

For fun, here are my current nails, done last night.  That was all I did.  I did my nails then went into bed and played video games.  (And you wonder why I don’t blog more LOL).  Anyways, it looked better in my head.

There’s this style…the reverse French…you do one color then another one just inside leaving a border.  And I loved the combo of the hot pink and the nude…but now that I have it on all I can think of is zombies.  It looks like my cuticles are bleeding.  And yet…it’s one of the smoothest, most even polishes I’ve ever applied, so I can’t bear to take it off yet!  (It looks worse in the photo)

(I swear).


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and the results are in…

wed mar 7-boys home, back to dr tonight for them.  more swatching for shawl, blanket yarn pic

Kept the boys home again today.  They only had low-grade fevers last night, and I was thinking that they might be able to go to school today.  It was Yannick’s morning to get up with the kids, and when I got up I asked how they were doing.  He said Henri was acting fine, but Jakob seemed sick.  I took their temperatures and Jakob had no fever any more, and Henri’s was low-grade again (99.8).  You just can’t tell from how they’re acting!  I was debating sending Jakob to school but really didn’t want to go out if I didn’t have to, and right as I was thinking about it he had a mini coughing fit and sneezed a few times, and I realized it wasn’t worth going out to bring him there.  Plus we still haven’t heard back from his strep test, even the 24 hour results aren’t in yet.

Because they still weren’t well, and it has been 3 days since Sunday when we saw the doctor last, I called up to book an appointment.  It was 8:30 when I called (they open the phone lines 30 min before they open for booking “emergency” visits) and they were already booking for 2pm!  The entire day had filled up already!  I really didn’t want to bring them in during nap time, so even though it would suck to go out at night if it got cold, I decided to wait and call back a bit later when they had gotten closer to 5pm.  Sure enough, about 45 minutes (and 3 call attempts) later, I was able to book a 5pm appointment, meaning I could let the kids nap until the usual 4:30 then get them ready and leave and be there just on time.

They played well in the morning, and ate well even though I gave them a light lunch.  At nap time Henri fell asleep right away, and Jakob was still up and playing when I went in around 3:00 to ask him to be quiet.  I was DEFINITELY thinking that Jakob was feeling much better, and be able to go back to school.  Around 4:00 Henri woke up and asked if he could go play with Jakob, I said sure ‘cus I knew Jakob would love a partner to play with.  Imagine my surprise when 2 minutes later Henri came back saying he couldn’t wake Jakob up!  Huh?  Wake him?  I went upstairs to check- and sure enough Jakob was SOUND asleep across his bed.  Oy.

Before heading out to the doctor I took their temperatures again just to be able to tell the doctor what was going on.  Jakob had no fever at all (97.2 by the time I took it out).  His only current symptoms were a bit-more-than-occasional cough, runny nose and sneezing.  Plus the unknown strep results.  Henri, on the other hand, had gone up to 102.2!  The poor kid- his voice was “off”, his nose was really runny but thick, and he had the occasional cough/sneeze.

While we waited for the doctor I asked the lab if they had Jakob’s results- no.  They said to check with the doctor’s receptionists, which I didn’t do because I’d be seeing the doctor herself in a minute or two.  She took a look at Jakob first and said that his symptoms (fever and red throat first, fading to cough/sneeze) seemed likely that he had a virus.  If the strep test were to turn out positive, then he probably just had a cold on top of the strep, but assuming it was negative, he had a virus and once he’s fever free (which he is) and back to himself (which he isn’t) then he can go back to school.  Henri also seemed to just have a virus, though because his fever has been since last Friday or Saturday night, if it continued a few more days we’d have to do an x-ray to make sure it wasn’t a light pneumonia (even though he wasn’t coughing much).  Just in case, though, she gave us a strep test requisition paper and rx for amoxil so that if Jakob’s test were to come back positive, we could get Henri checked too, and then fill the rx without having to come back in.  She didn’t have Jakob’s results so she told us to check with reception.

That’s when it almost got comical.  We go out to reception and they say they asked the lab for the results, but she was busy and couldn’t tell them right away.  I asked if I should wait because should it be positive we’d have to test Henri, but the lab had just closed so they couldn’t even test him anyways.  They said that they were open until 7:30, so if Jakob’s results did come in before they closed they’d call me, and if positive I could come back with Henri the next day to be tested.  So I get the kids ready to leave and RIGHT as we’re about to walk out they say they have the results!  Jakob’s 5 minute and 24 hr tests were both negative, but the 48 hour one was positive.

Huh?  Now that the kid has no fever and only a cough & sneeze as symptoms, which are NOT symptoms of strep, NOW he has strep?  Okay…  Well, can they test Henri, since we’re still here?  Nope, she tells me, ‘cus the lab really is closed.  But another lab nearby is still open.  It was 5:45pm, the kids hadn’t eaten supper yet, and I didn’t want to feed them before Henri was tested in case swallowing food would slough away any bacteria from the back of his throat.  If I’m paying for a strep test, I want them finding any and all available bacteria!!

The rest of the next hour and a half was a “hurry-up-and-wait” blur.  First we drove to the other lab, near the local hospital.  After a short wait Henri had his test done, then we had to wait 15 minutes for their quick-test results.  I tried bringing the kids to a cafe next door for a soup and cookie, something for a light supper, but they were closed.  The only thing open during the wait was a depaneur, so the best I could do to tide them over was get them each a drink (no sharing right now!) and a big cookie for the 3 of us to share.  The 15 minute test was negative, so now we’ve got to wait.  Since Jakob’s test was positive after the long growing span, I won’t know for sure until at least Friday if Henri has strep or not.  Which means we’re home for the rest of the week.

We couldn’t go home yet, though, because we still had to fill Jakob’s amoxil.  I know from past experience that it takes about 10-15 minutes to fill that rx because they make it only once the order comes in (I assume), but I really didn’t want to get the boys home 10 minutes before bedtime and THEN feed them.  So we hit up a McDonald’s drive through for some nuggets and fries, and I fed them while sitting in the waiting chairs at the pharmacy.  Not the best meal in the best place, but the best I could do at the time.  By the time the rx was filled and we got home, it was 10 minutes past their 7pm bedtime.  Oy.

I think the rush of activity wore them both out, because once they were in bed, neither one got up again.  They both passed right out.

–

If I get back to the crafting, which is why most of you are probably here, I did more planning of swatches in Excel.  I did work up a quick swatch to test out decrease angles for a little motif I’m hoping to include in the pattern, but since I’m hoping to publish this pattern, I can’t actually show any photos here.

Instead I’ll give you this photo:

I figured it would be a good idea to have a group pic of all the yarns used in my sparkly woven blanket before they were used up in the blanket.  Because I’m striping them randomly it’s not easy to tell from the project what the yarns that went into it looked like, so this will be my reminder.

I hope you’re all healthy!


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getting my weave on

The boys were both home today.  We did the strep test, and the 5 minute one was negative.  They would now grow it for 24 hours, and if that was negative they’d grow it some more until it was 48 hours, and notify us if it ever turned positive.  Great.

I did some weaving in the afternoon while they napped.  The purple/green section is my 3rd shuttle, using yarns 5 and 6 together (a green-y blend and a purpley blend).  The stitch marker is just my marker for where I stopped counting picks (rows).  As I wind it up I’m keeping track of how many rows there are so I can make each of the 5 panels the exact same length.

I’m at about 47″, and I hope it will be about 80″.

Here’s a better look at my current manicure.  Jakob was surprised that while I was home sick I had bare nails, and asked me to paint them again.  I was in the mood for a chrome and couldn’t pick which one, so I used all 3.  Then I topped them with the black-dotted clear topcoat.  I considered them “Spring-y”, but someone said they look just like the foil-wrapped little chocolate Easter eggs, and I think they’re right!


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woven spring scarf

Today was uneventful.  I didn’t get much weaving done, just a few rows while the kids played this morning.  I did some swatching for a new pattern, but it’s still in the early drafting stages, and I’m playing around with it in Excel until I get it right.

Since I’ve got nothing else to show you, here’s my aunt’s scarf all finished up.

I mailed it to her as a surprise, and she was supposed to receive it last Monday, which is why I haven’t been posting finished pics (even though I don’t think she knows about, or reads my blog).  I’ve come to find out that she’s out of town, and didn’t actually receive it yet.  Oh well- here it is.

It’s an infinity scarf with a twist, and can be worn straight or wrapped twice around the neck.

This shows the seam.  You can barely see it because it was done by machine, and it really doesn’t have much bulk at all.

It’s hard to photograph something with a twist- you don’t know how to lay it down!

This shows the crochet edging, and how tight the fabric ended up after it was washed and dried.

Today ended a bit depressingly.  I was starting to feel a bit better, and looking forwards to getting back to work next week.  Kind of my own Spring renewal.  And then…before bed I noticed the boys were acting a big sluggish.  I’d thought Henri felt a bit warm last night but since he was staying home today I didn’t take his temperature.  I took it tonight- 102.  😦  Then I took Jakob’s, because a sign that he’s sick is when he’s extremely cuddly and affectionate, and he’d been coming up to me and stroking my cheek before giving me a little kiss all afternoon- 100.8.  😦  Looks like I might not be back at work so soon…


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celery socks

Still the same.  Still coughing.  Yannick drove the boys in this morning, and my mom was nice enough to pick up the boys for me today so I didn’t have to go out and pick them up.  I spent the day in my pjs, slept a bit, and got some knitting done.

I finished the Celery socks!

So as I’d said previously, this is Knit Picks’ Bare sock yarn that I hand-dyed in self-striping shades of green.

I’d used most of it for my mom’s woven scarf (my first woven project) and these socks used up all but 1 yard of the leftovers.  (Yay for scales!)

My latest “usual” sock pattern- figure 8 cast on, toe up socks, short row heel, modified to have a patterned leg instead of just stockinette stitch.  No ribbing, about 5 garter ridges instead.


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more of the same

Not much new to report today.  Still coughing, still spending daytime hours sleeping because I’m not getting very much of it done at night.

Jakob asked me to share this photo of him and Snoopy…it was an old McDonald’s toy that had stickers for the eyes but we lost them, so today he told me he was going to draw on eyes.  I don’t know why he used red, but we used washable markers so now he can change Snoopy’s look whenever he wants.

Thank goodness I’ve got well-behaved kids, who are especially observant when someone isn’t well, and are really sweet and considerate.  They know I haven’t been feeling well and have been really good about playing quietly in the small amount of time between supper and bed.  Tonight they ignored the tv in favor of reading books.

I know these pics aren’t anything extraordinary, but there’s just something about cute kids in turtlenecks and jeans that gets me- it’s like they’re 2 little beatniks or something.

I got a bit more knitting done today.  Since the socks won’t actually be finished in February, at least I know that I should be finishing the socks tomorrow.  A day or two into March isn’t bad, and that’s my first pair of socks of the year, done.  If I keep up this KAL I should at least end up with 6 pairs of socks knit this year.


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back in time

I spent today living in the future.  No really- my watch didn’t recognize that it was a leap day, so all day long I’d refer to it and it said “March 1st”.  I sent a happy birthday email a day early, bugged Yannick to work on some school stuff with an imminent deadline…all stuff based on the wrong date.  Oy.

As you can see I only got a few more sock rows done.  If it came down to a trade-off of “take inhaler” vs “knit”, breathing comfortably (or as much as possible) won, hands-down.  I’m dying to lie down but every time I even incline slightly it triggers a mad cough attack, so I’m still sleeping mostly sitting up, and trying to not even lean back in the couch.