Photos! We have proof of knitting!

Somehow I managed to not take pictures of most of my dishcloths before using them or mailing them, so here, for your viewing enjoyment is the one and only dishcloth that I immortalized in .gif.

It is a mini-cable design, and it's bright, springlike colors made me think of my friend Shawn, so I mailed it to her, along with a golden colored one with a fall leaf picture.

This is the first square of my modular blankie, and I LOVE it - the wool is so soft and smooth, I want to buy lots, but unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) it is one of the lovely remnants donated to me by Shelly of the Heathen Housewife, and it has no label.

And finally, in the knitting category, we have the hat. I am very proud of this hat, and I hope my friend and his family like it.And a second view, this time with a balloon "head" inside to show it in all it's glory. I also made a little flower accent - I plan to put a pin back on this for the baby's mother.

Pattern to come later - I want to put down how I made this somewhere I won't lose it, before I forget!

If the hat fits, or Yes, you SHOULD swatch a baby hat!

So a friend of mine is a new grandfather, and he is SOOO excited. It's a girl, and she is 1 week old as of Wednesday (yesterday.) I decided I want to make her a hat, so I scoured the net for the perfect pattern, and found it....spread out over 3 patterns.

Heh. Not a problem, really! I can handle some minor hat pattern adjustments. I CAN!

However, apparently I can't handle joining 224 stitches without making a mobius strip. (once)
And I can't handle decreasing 224 stitches down to 54 without somehow reversing my needles and stitching essentially a short row...in the round. (once)
And when 54 stitches on size 10 needles is obviously WAY too big for an infant's head, I apparently don't know when to quit and swatch, but instead I decided to just decrease for one more row, resulting in 27 stitches, which MAY have fit my daughter's favorite baby doll's head.

The good news? It's superwash wool! And sports weight, I think! I can swatch AND make a square for my blankie! Except...that would be a garter stitch, flat, swatch and I am knitting stockinette in the round. Ugh. Maybe I should just do it right instead of casting on 224 stitches AGAIN only to send it to the frog pond? *sigh*

Oh, and my double stranded sports weight does NOT work on size 10 needles, so I think I will try swatching with an 8 and see what happens.

On the plus side the kids did great today - Imp loved using the ball winder at the yarn shop, and Critter talked me into buying her more yarn (she paid me back!) for yet another project she will start. She has more on the needles than I do!

Of course we had to go to the yarn shop...didn't you read where I said I decided to knit a hat for a baby? That's a new project, and new projects need new yarn! What's that? Stash, you say? Of course I can't use anything I already have - there was nothing quite right!

Seriously, my (small, meager) stash consists mostly of bright and deep colors. I *needed* a pastel pink for this...and a coordinating green. You'll see what I mean...when I get the darn gauge right.

Oh! The kids favorite thing about today? Playing on the new play structure we had put in over the weekend. They are having a blast, and playing so nicely together! It's great, and huge, and takes up most of the yard...and so worth it! We found it used on Craig's List

Surrounded by boxes

I have spent the last few weeks unpacking boxes, in between keeping the kids moderately fed, happy, and clean. Well, fed and happy, anyway! Not to mention working with Phoebe (our dog) and other basic life stuff.

I have been knitting dishcloths, mostly. I joined a twice monthly KAL (Knit A Long) dishcloth group in order to learn new stitches and skills in a manageable way, and so far it has been fun! I forgot to take pictures of the first 2 dishcloths before using them, and they are now faded and pretty ugly, but I will try to remember to take a pic when they are clean, at least. I love using them, though!

I have finally taken pictures of the last few completed projects - 2 dishcloths, one metered square from sock yarn, and one baby sock. I'll get them off my camera and posted soon. Really!

I also started a second metered square for blankie. I owe Shelly a huge thank you for the yarn remnants - this is going to be so much fun! Current thoughts about my blankie:
-best thing so far about getting a goodie bag full of yarn remnants is discovering wonderful yarn patterns and textures that I might not choose on my own.
-worst thing is having no idea what some of these wonderful yarns are. I found one I adore! It is so soft, with beautiful colors...and no label. And I have no idea what it might be!
-it is interesting to me how one sock yarn would be so marvelously soft and smooth feeling, and the next one very stereotypical scratchy wool.

Off to bed now!