Knitting Knews

It's sad to admit that the last time I posted about a completed project was back in February.  I don't have too much to report, here goes.  My recent knits include a couple hats and some felted Christmas ornaments.   

Hat one (left) I worked up for myself in Morehouse 3-strand Merino.  I was hoping for different pooling, not so stripey looking. The yarn was great to knit. So far even though I did not have many cold day opportunities to wear it, I've been able to wear it right against my ears with no itch. I made hat two (right), the Halfdome Hat, for my husband. It was designed specifically for the Bay Area.  However, it woks just as well for us here on the Eastern seaboard and guess what? My husband wears it!

I made felted ornaments for a friend and I'm really happy with how they turned out.  They are knit swatches which are felted then cut to shape.  

Architecture

During our visit to Longwood Gardens today, we explored the most impressive tree houses I've ever seen. In every detail these were not your ordinary backyard treehouses. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so I'll update this post with photos of the place as soon as I can.

At The Lookout Loft, a treehouse overlooking the meadow, we enjoyed a leisurely hike through the woods. At The Birdhouse, a treehouse towering high in the sky, we walked on floor boards reclaimed from an old toothpaste factory.

However, oddly enough, I got to see my favorite architectural feature on the property all because my four-year-old daughter had "to go potty". Of course there was not a toilet in sight. So, we quickly ran to the closest building - the lovely Peirce-du Pont House. At the door an employee, intent on clicking her counter to keep track of the day's visitors, looked up.

Me: Excuse me, can you tell me where the closest restroom is?

Employee (E): For her? (pointing to my daughter)

Me: Yes.

E: Walk in the library to the front left, just push on the corner wall and it will swing open to a bathroom. It is very small, but I think she'll be able to fit in. And don't tell anyone about it.

Me: Thank you.

We quietly made our way into the gorgeous library. It was full of chairs and plenty of people enjoying some sort of film. Sure enough we pushed against the dark wainscoat in the corner of the room and it swung inward to a narrow corridor leading to a commode and sink. This bathroom was just as well-maintained as any garden I've ever seen on said premises. It had a tile floor and a small marble-lined sink area. If you ever visit Longwood Gardens, be sure to visit this bathroom. But, don't tell them I sent you.

Welcome Flat Stanley

Recently a surprise envelope arrived in our mailbox from friends in New Hampshire.  What fun to open it and find that Flat Stanley had made it to our door!

Flat Stanley started out in a 3rd-grade classroom in CA. The instructions asked us to mail back a postcard from our area of the country.  The classroom will be plotting Flat Stanley's visits as he makes his way around the USA.  Thus far Flat Stanley had been in Hawaii, Michigan, Missouri and Colorado.

Flat Stanley stayed on as a visitor in our home a little longer than I had planned, I wanted to make sure he got a chance to visit local historic sites:  Independence Hall and Valley Forge.  He enjoyed our Easter celebration with traditional ham dinner and a family favorite at the table - dandelion salad and of course the egg hunt.

At one point I could not find him.  After a diligent search, I found Flat Stanley stuck between the CVS and Genuardi's circulars in our recycling bin!  

Good Bye, Flat Stanley, have fun on the rest of your journey!

Leap Year

For all you knitter's out there. I suggest you celebrate Leap Year by frogging a project that you've had sitting around for more than ten years that is less than half complete.

Happy Valentine's Day

This morning my older daughter ran over to our bedroom and wished me a Happy Valentine's Day. My husband had already left for work. I had been out knitting the night before and purchased helium-filled balloons for the girls. T. had found hers at the foot of her bed and was delighted with it.

Later that day we had lunch at my folks' house and Dad showed me his favorite comic from their morning paper. It showed a man and a woman at a rack of cards, each chose a card for the other, they exchanged cards right there, placed the cards back on the rack and declared they'd put the 5 dollars they just saved on seeing a movie. Somewhere the comic was labled The Long-term Relationship. Dad and I shared a good laugh over that.

The valentine I received that morning, however, was way more funny than that comic strip. I found it on the kitchen counter:
"Beth, I took $20 from your purse. Happy Valentine's Day. Love, B"

Truly, it is the most favorite valentine I've ever received. It made me smile a big smile when I read it. I think it does exemplify a healthy long-term relationship and that's right where I want to be right now.

Cardigan Complete

I've been working on this jacket from Baby Knits for Beginners by Debbie Bliss for six months and it is finally done. It feels great that it fits my little one and bettter yet, she likes it. I absolutely love the way it turned out and what a joy to work with the baby cashmerino yarn!

Pattern: Debbie Bliss Jacket

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino - Periwinkle #605

Needles: US 2 and US 3

Buttons: from Kaleidoscope Yarns inVermont

Start date: 8/10/07

Finish date: 2/9/08

Notes: I used just over 4 skeins, for size 24-36 months.

Happy Groundhog Day

Part of the tradition in my home is to make groundhog cutout cookies. This morning I was lucky enough to watch a live broadcast of Punxsutawney Phil's prediction - "As I look around me, a bright sky I see, and a shadow beside me. Six more weeks of winter it will be."

Finally Blocked

Way back in September, I mentioned that progress was slow on the Debbie Bliss jacket. On Friday I finished the sleeves and on Saturday I blocked it. I hope to seam it soon and furthermore, I hope it will fit my 2-year-old for whom it is intended!

New Year

A friend in my knitting group suggested this and I like the idea - cast on a new project every January 1st. My 08-Jan-01 cast-on is a strip for an afghan. The group is knitting strips to be pieced together for afghans for Afghans.

I'm knitting on US 6 needles, co 35 stitches and using KnitPicks Wool of the Andes along with some yarn donated to me for the project.

Also, my knitting new year resolution is to knit something (anything) for myself in 2008.

Thank you, SP10

A surprise package arrived just in time for Christmas from my SP10. She sent magazines and chocolate (yum!) for the girls and I all the way from the UK. Thank you so much! I enjoy receiving items that are not familiar to us here in the US.

Just Enough Sugar

Sugar cookie baking gets better and better every year. "This one is almost ready, Mommy. It needs some more 'ellow' on it" Have you ever baked cut-outs with a toddler or two? Oh, how sweet it is.

And just when you're wondering if you've had enough sugar, you find that recipe for the tree Mom made every Christmas morning.

It is made of a yeast-risen sweet dough. Use butter and green sugar on the limbs, form a tree shape, use butter, cinnamon and nuts for the trunk and top it off with a maraschino cherry. I can't remember a Christmas without one of these! Of course there was enough sweet dough to make sticky buns as well. And did I mention Aunt Ruth's toffee?

Beyond Thanksgiving

Since our table of twenty for Thanksgiving, my girls have come to the conclusion that three toddler chairs are not enough at their table. Today I walked into the living room and found seating for nine. Cute, huh?

In knitting news, progress continues on the Christmas stocking for my youngest. All other knitting projects have been set aside in hopes of finishing this by Dec 25. I've abandoned the idea of adding a beaded snowflake to the brim of the hat. I had completed it and frogged it - looked nothing like a snowflake. I will probably end up adding the girl's names in duplicate stitch in order to distinguish between the two socks. But, I'd be happy to entertain more creative ideas.

Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving by eating a huge feast at Mom and Dad's with a table of twenty guests. The meal was great. The turkey was tasty - of the fresh, grain-fed variety. I contributed mashed red-curry sweet potatoes - a recipe Mom found in Martha Stewart Living Nov 2007. They've got coconut milk and Thai red-curry paste in them. Believe me, these sweet potatoes are absolutely incredible! Try them sometime. Find the recipe within this article.

I can't talk about Thanksgiving without mentioning Uncle Bob. I see him about once a year - at Thanksgiving. Uncle Bob is a loud, obnoxious sort of guy, but this year he did not get on my nerves as much as he usually does. I could more easily shrug off his comments. One of our conversations went something like this:
Bob: Do you have a job now?
Me: Yes, I work all day long.
Bob: Oh, you're home with the kids. What, you can't get a baby sitter!?

I just left it at that and next thing I know he's asking about the marital status of my parents' minister and shouting about how all divorced clergy ought to be kicked out of the church.

By the way, I took this photo in my folk's yard. I really like the way it shows the fall color.

My Oldest WIP

My Oldest WIP (work in progress) got a facelift. If you remember from a previous post, I knit this sweater back in October 1988 for my niece (now 21 years old!) My sister-in-law kindly found it and sent it to me for my girls to enjoy. I tried the sweater on my youngest the other day and realized I better get to work if I have any hope of her wearing it. She is growing so fast!

Fairly immediately (that's as immediately as a mother of two preschoolers can get), I set to work on salvaging as much yarn as possible from the neck placket. When I frogged the stitches I had picked up for the placket, I discovered that the neckline was still beautifully intact. Believe it or not, I still had the instructions for the sweater, so I was thinking I'd reknit the inset.

While I was working on the sweater yesterday, Marsha was with me and suggested a more up-to-date ribbed v-neck instead of the placket. That sounds easier, will use less yarn and ought to look great I thought. Let me tell you, it's a good thing I hang out with such brilliant people.

I ran with the idea, adding two rows of contrasting color at the border and cranked out the updated sweater last night. What do you think?

A New Tree

This past weekend we planted our new tree - a Bloodgood Japanese Maple. We also put in a couple perennials: a Spirea and a Nandina Domestica. I had tons of fun getting my hands in the dirt and I was reminded just how good that outdoor work feels. I enjoyed the dirt up under my fingernails, the smell of the soil and the cool autumn air under which we worked.

Our landscape plan around our new porch and walkway is finally taking shape. There are alot of plants I want to put in, but we'll take our time and do bit by bit.

Welcome To The World, Little One

I just found out that my friend became a grandmother (for the first time!) earlier this week. He was born on Monday, prematurely weighing in at 4 lbs 10 ozs. Mother and son are doing well, though still in the hospital. I forgot to ask his name.

It's time to knit a baby hat!

Children's Indoor Garden

Saturday we went to Longwood Gardens for the grand opening of the children's indoor garden. The garden was lovely with a childsized seashell-lined passageway and a childsized winding staircase. The children were intriqued by a fountain which was fed by bronze animal mouths from above. That fountain also spewed upward with small blurbs of water which little hands and teenaged-hands found fastinating in their attemt to catch. Occasionally, a child would lean out and look downward, getting gently splashed in the face.

The grand opening of this amazing addition to the world famous Longwood Gardens included a fun-filled schedule: juggler's performance, bubble show, dancing rainforest creatures (by Annie Hickman) and kitemaking. We had a great time! My girls say they liked the insects (rainforest creatures) best!

It is Majestic

My knitting buddies sure like the color of this yarn. Gina, remember when we looked at the ball band for this yarn and it had a name of #589? Your remark was something like "Oooh, aaah, that name does it justice, yes, # 589, drool." Whatever you said had me rolling on the floor with laughter. I've just learned now, that according to Rowan's site, this lovely color #589 does have a name - Majestic.

I finally knit a Moebius I like, color name - Majestic!

Pattern: Cat Bordhi, Simple Moebius from A First Treasury Of Magical Knitting

Yarn: Rowan Kidsilk Haze, #589 Majestic, .75 skein

Needles: US 2, 26" circular

Start Date: 9/09/07

Finish Date: 10/24/07

Notes: MCO 360 sts, it is more narrow than I'd like; next time knit the whole skein.

It is the correct length for twisting and coming up over the ears - just as I intended!

I may add an edge to make it a bit wider.

Next time I'll knit, then purl so the scarf does not do the center switch from knit stitches to purl stitches. My knitting buddies think that may make the loose centerline less obvious.

Ta Da!

Finally, at the sewing machine, I made the mate to match the first. I'm happy with the result and what a sense of completion!

Morning Glories

For the past couple years, I've planted morning glories in the corner of the yard. This year the plant did particularly well; the opposite side of this fence looks just as lush. Against the fence hangs a rusty old bike frame that I pulled out of the creek (drainage ditch) that runs by our home. I'm an avid bicyclist in my past life and was intruiqued with the piece. My MIL and husband did not share my enthusiasm for the find and as a joke, nailed it prominently to the corner of the fence. "That looks great - perfect!", I said. Now the joke's on them. The bike frame has been hanging there ever since; you just can't see it this year due to the prolific morning glories.

See those ugly white lamp posts behind the beautiful morning glories in the photo to your right? You can't? Good! I hate those posts and I've hated them for the past four years. Thanks to another great idea from Marsha (Marsha has great ideas), this year I planted morning glories to hide the post. Why didn't I ever think of that? I thought to put morning glories in by the fence which now cover my beautiful bike frame.

The first time I planted them from 4" pots, I put them right into the ground at the base of the post. Little bunnies had a feast overnight, next morning, no plants! So, I bought new plants and put them in large pots thinking that maybe having the delicious plants up off the ground would deter the rabbits. I don't know if that's what did it or not. But, it worked.