Ta Da! The baby sweater pictures

Monkey buttons and all!

Aren't the buttons cute?

The close up of the monkey buttons shows the colors in their best light. 

Here’s a photo of the hat & sweater.

I don’t know what it is about taking the distance shots that messes up the color, but it’s still a very cute hat and sweater.  The mom-to-be loved it and a couple of the other guests wanted to know what pattern I used and where I found the buttons.  The pattern is a free download from Lion Brand Yarn called Bubblegum Baby Set.  Enjoy.

Zoom!

What a fast moving week we had this past week!  Ditty had soccer games Monday and Tuesday nights as they needed to make up two games that were called due to bad weather (heavy rain on one night and high heat index on the other).  Soccer tournaments were also this weekend.  Ditty’s team was the #7 seed out of 9 teams, so they didn’t have to play a game on Thursday night.  They did, however, have to play the #2 seeded team on Saturday morning.  They played their best game all season, especially since this was the team they played in the make-up game on Monday night (where they got clobbered 4 or 5 to nothing).  Ditty’s team scored first in the latter part of the first half, but the other team tied the score just before the half ended.  Neither team scored in the early part of the second half, but the other team did score again with about 5 minutes left in the second half.  So the final score was 2-1 with the other team winning the game.  Ditty and her team were so bummed that they were out of the tournament after just one game.  But all the parents and their coaches told them that they did an excellent job playing that game and defending against a very aggressive team.  Ditty was the goalie for her team and she made alot of good saves.  She was bummed about the second goal the other team got through though.  It was a high kick into the net and she said she had felt it brush the tips of her fingers.  Just not a high enough jump on her part-poor kid.  We told her that as long as you try your best, that’s all we or anyone can expect.

We also took the kids out to the beach today, in spite of the weather.  It was supposed to get up to 83 degrees Farenheit today-never made it that far, or if it did, the wind kept things feeling much cooler.  Ditty enjoyed the water and BooBoo made a friend on the playground.  I attempted to knit something constructive but just couldn’t decide what to make.  I also forgot to bring stitch markers for knitting in the round, so tried to crochet a quick ring marker-it ended up too thick to be useful.  I suppose that I could have just tied a loop of yarn onto the needles, but I wanted something a little fancier at the time.  Oh well, since none of the projects I looked at really grabbed my fancy, it’s just as well that I spent more time on the marker.  There’s just that much less knitting to frog.

I finished the baby sweater and it is now blocking in the basement.  Should be dry and ready for a picture tomorrow (which I can’t post until Thursday).  I have to go back to the yarn store on Tuesday to pick up some wool wash.  I wasn’t reading labels as closely as I should have been on Saturday and purchased a bottle of  Power Scour, a cleaning product for raw, greasy fleeces instead of something that will gently wash woolen handknits.  That ought to teach me not to buy and run.

Reconnecting with the world

Ditty and I were at Girl Scout daycamp last week.  BooBoo came along and enjoyed exploring the woods while I worked with the girls on Outdoor Specialty Skills (knives, knots, compasses, weather and map skills).  My own compass knowledge needs some extra work so I found some good online info.  Can’t remember if it was trefoilgirlscouts or scoutingweb, but it was one of the two so I’ll be checking them out again soon.  Ditty and her age group got to go on a compass hunt for candy this year, whittled fuzz stick firestarters and learned how to tie more knots, including a barrel roll shaped knot that isn’t good for anything except making a cool looking necklace (but they always want to know that one).

Ditty and I also had a great time at the overnight.  The kids and staff enjoyed skits and songs at the campfire.  Roasted hotdogs, made s’mores, all that good stuff.  We had a bout of bad weather on Tuesday and couple short sprinkles on Friday morning, but other than those, the weather was really nice.  Not oppressively hot or ridiculously cold either (we’ve had both at other times this summer, so we were thankful for the nice weather).

I’ve spent the past few days catching up on the laundry and housecleaning.  I’ve also taken some time out to work on my knitting.  DH’s cousin’s wife is pregnant and the baby shower is next Wednesday.  I’ve finished the hat and am working on the right front of the cardigan.  It’s knit in one piece from the back to the left front with sleeves attached, then the yarn is attached to the neck edge and the right front is knit on as well.  I’ve picked colors from their nursery (a photo of the mom-to-be and the new baby’s nursery was used as the invitation for the shower), so the hat and sweater should be well received.  I’ll post a picture after it’s finished and after the actual shower.

Well, gotta run and figure out what I want to make for supper tonight.  I really need to do a cooking day soon.  The freezer has very little variety lately and school starts in September so I’ll want to have some cool weather oven meals ready for that.  I picked up cottage cheese on my last trip to the grocery store (a buy one, get one free deal) so I’ll definitely be making some lasagne.  I’ve got hamburger in the freezer from a previous trip as well as noodles in the cupboard all ready to go.

Eeek! A Moth!

I have found more evidence of moth damage in the wool yarn that I am using to crochet a summer sweater for Ditty.  This has put me in a fair tizzy this morning as I also have stored in the same wicker hamper:  a 50/50 blend of alpaca & silk sock yarn, a large (2100 yard) skein of 100% alpaca yarn-somewhere between fingering & sport weight, a 100% organic cotton yarn and a whole bunch of Lion Brand Homespun for prayer shawls.  I am at my wits end and even my husband was somewhat sympathetic to my plight this morning in spite of this being the first time in the 18 years we’ve known each other that he has had to put up with plastic bags of yarn in the freezer.  I’ve got the plant and animal based yarns in plastic bags in the freezer, but I still have to find enough room in the freezer for the acrylic.  I’m not above suspecting the moth larvae to hide in there until their food source returns.  It would be just like those sneaky little devils to do that.

Are they breeding?

First off today, my rant. 

How can a man have 4 empty clothes hangers and 7 shirts in the wash that all need to be hung up?  Is it the cold water in the washing machine or the nice warm air in the dryer that is causing them to breed like rabbits?  Honestly, if DH doesn’t stop buying shirts I will go through his closet with a bag for Goodwill.  He’s a bigger clothes horse than I am-it’s downright embarassing.  And he probably has more shoes too!

The knitting is coming along on DD2’s sweater.  I’ve done the first decrease in the yoke and am getting closer to the second decrease.  I may have this thing done before the last snowstorm of March.  March came in like a lamb here if you ask me, so I think we’re in for one more good snowstorm before spring finally arrives.  I do not want another batch of snow, but I’m a realist.  When one lives in the frigid north, spring can never arrive soon enough.  Bring on that global warming! Please.

Both of the younger kids are in school today.  DS’ teacher spoke with me yesterday and said the class really misses him.  DD1 helped out at recess and said that one of his classmates asked her when he would be coming back.  He is very glad to be back in school today too.  He was actually getting tired of his long break with me (and having homework).  I’m glad he’s back in school too.  Now I can get some real cleaning done.

Lookie Cookie-It’s almost a sweater

I have finally joined the sleeves to the body.  Bless dear EZ’s heart for making me do the thinking on how to get those sleeves attached.  I know, it shouldn’t have been that big a deal, but my first attempt to join the first sleeve resulted in the sleeve underarm not matching up with the body underarm.  Go figure.  I had to figure out what went wrong (relied to heavily on the circular properties of the needle and just hoped it came out right) and then I had to fix it (ran the left needle through half the stitches and the right needle through the other half-sounds weird but I think that was what worked, it was after midnight by this point and we lost an hour of sleep due to daylight savings time so things are a bit fuzzy today.)  To top if off, today I took pictures of the almost sweater and when I went to get the cable to transfer pics to ‘puter, I found out that DH has a large supply of cables.  Not a one labled of course, since he “knows” which are which and why would “anyone” (ie: me) ever need to do something computerish without his help.  OY!  The first cable I tried did nothing but frustrate me greatly.  The second cable, however proved to be the right one and immediately after getting pics on ‘puter, I grabbed my Dymo label maker and labled it not once but twice in the hope that one of those labels will stick to the thing at least until the next time I need it.  So, with much sighing, here’s the best picture of DD2’s almost sweater.

Sleeves joined to body. Underarm stitches on holders.

Yes, there are bunches of strings.  Sorry about that.  I weave my ends in at the end, sort of a “thank God I’m done” moment.  Also, the sleeves are ribbed excessively to allow for a ten year old’s constant growth and the fact that spring is almost here and sweater weather is/should be pretty much behind us.  I knit the body big as well so she should be able to wear it for several years.  If she goes off to college in it, then it certainly was well worth the time.

Enjoy your day and happy knitting.

Knitting away

Well, I’ve almost finished the second sleeve in DD2’s sweater.  Only about an inch longer and it will be time to put all of the stitches (minus the underarms on a very long circular needle to finish the yoke of the sweater (that’s the upper chest/back and shoulders part to my non-knitting friends).  I will hopefully post some pictures of it soon.  The Malabrigo yarn is so soft and wonderful to work with.  Gotta love merino wool.  And DD2 is certainly appreciative-she practically squealed in delight when she saw the color (Intenso).  I practically squealed when I saw the price (only $10.50 per skein in Park Rapids when my own LYS was still selling it for $28.00 to $30.00 per skein)  In defense of my LYS, they have now dropped the price to $11.00 per skein and their landlord is a bit high priced with the building rental.  Who can stay mad at a yarn shop anyway?  There’s just too much beautiful fiber there. 

 

Well, DS wants the computer so he can play Webkinz, which he hasn’t done in several weeks.  And I have to get ready to pick DD2 up from her sleepover so we can deliver cookies to our wonderful neighbors.  And I say that with true feeling because they really have been wonderful, ordering loads of Girl Scout cookies even with the tough economy.  Our neighbors really support Scouting.  I love living here.