Dishcloth KAL

I joined a dishcloth KAL but have not been following along. Basically there are 10 rows to do a day and right now I should be on day 5. I did the first two days tonight, while very distracted by the kids. Its really a pretty pattern



Then I got to row 20 and things didn't work out right and noticed this




Ugh, what is that?! No way to fix it unless I rip out a bunch of rows and try not to drop YOs. Is it even worth it? Or should I wait till the next one and actually follow along (when I am not distracted hopefully?)?

He can knit too

Another one for the store

I started these two nights ago and finished all but 2 rows and bind off last night.




I have to find the label as I am having a brain fart and can't seem to remember the name.

Medium with the wider/longer crotch

hip 18"
rise 20.5"
thigh 11"

So romantic...

Shawn is knitting me a dishcloth! I showed him how to knit last night (and purl too). He's amazing!

Pics when its complete.

A couple of soakers

The BFL mentioned below came and was on the needles the next day. I'm really trying not have more than one or two WIP. I want to produce and if I am dividing time amoung too many things it just won't happen.

Here is the completed soaker from the Nada BFL yarn





My own pattern: just gauge, measure and do the math. K3P2 ribbing several short rows, picked up stockinette cuffs (which I may decide to loosen, depends as I think his thighs will probably start thinning out now and not getting any bigger based on experience with dd).

The yarn is beautiful and so soft. I love the soaker other than some small areas of color pooling (see the black? and two small spots on the back). I just ordered 6 skeins of BFL so I'll be making some more soakers from it soon.

And I also used some naked BBR to make a Warm Heart Woolies soaker for ds. Its still blocking but here are some pics




I made a large and this is how much I left of the 4oz once all ends were woven in and it was totally completed



I absolutely love this yarn. I made the BFL soaker first and didn't think the BBR was nearly so soft in comparison. However, once I lanolized the BBR it became so incredibly soft! I especially love the stretchiness of the BBR. I swear its like elastic! I'll need to get some more of this once I've sold a few soakers.

I am actually going to purchase a cottage license from Ruth of WHW (the first person to do so in fact).

I really like a lot of features of this pattern. Here are some detail shots.








Built in cuffs are so nice, less to finish and less to weave in (only two ends to weave-in in fact!).

I've made a few of these soakers and they just fit my kids well and are easy to customize.

Normally when I knit soakers I measure and do the math on the gauge but that gets tiresome. There is something to be said about having the math already done for you!

So soon they will be up on my Hyena cart at Cherry City Crafters

More shorts pics

I need to do some more once ds wakes up from his nap and I can go outside (don't want to risk him waking up alone inside, he'd get very sad).

I like how these turned out, kind of skater or surfer length. This is about how long dh wears his shorts too.



And because I really don't want to resize again, just go to this this page to see the cuff detail.

Warshrag

Ok, so if you have "Mason-Dixon Knitting" chances are you have made at least one of these.




I made some variations though.

I cast on 45 and thought it was way too big so I changed it to 30, much better. Most of my washrags around around 30 co.

Then after one repeat of the pattern I changed something else. Instead of knitting the first row of the CC, I purled it. So all cc rows are reverse stockinette. Not a big deal but I like it better that way.

After I finished this one I cast on another in opposite colors.

Finished shorts for the store

Malabrigo Elijdo in Cueros



Its blocking but looks a little funny from the angle. Notice the funky beach towel ;)



The cuff detail, inspired by "Knitting on the Edge"

hip 19"
rise 20"
inseam 3.5"

Amara learns to knit and other stuff

Look at my big 4 yr old girl! Today at breakfast we were talking about how I could teach Amara to knit when she turns 5, she seemed enthused. Then later we went to Joanns to use my coupons to buy cotton yarn (because I bought Mason-Dixon Knitting and if you have that book you understand why I must now knit with cotton and make cabin style things! even though I generally hate working with cotton at least the mercerized-splits-so-much-I-want-to-jam-this-needle-in-my-eye kind. Kitchen cotton is different though!!!! /rant/rave).

While there Mar picked up some sparkly yarn and stated that she needed to have it. She was so excited we ran over to the needle section and picked up some brightly colored kids needles with cats on the ends. After a bit of tandem practice she made this



Its a bracelet for Leo, she says.

Here is the back



10 sts x 4 rows

She now knows how to, "put it in, wrap, pull it through, and push it off" as we repeated. I did only the wrapping part after the first row.

I'm so dang proud!

In other kid news, though not at all proud, my son pulled the blocking sweater off the kitchen table while I was dressing. It landed in a pile of cracker crumbs and will need to be blocked again.

This is the non-blocked version




When blocked the details pop a lot better, its also a bit longer.

In other news I found the forgotten huge shorts




my gauge was off and they are truly huge. If you want them they can be yours though. Send me $5 and I'll mail them to you along with the yarn to finish the drawstring and kitchener the crotch. Otherwise I'll frog these babies as the rise is not long enough to felt them.

Ding, dong the sweater's done!

Hallerlu-yer! The baby cardigan is done for my friend's sil. I'll take a picture after its dry. I'm so glad its done, when you don't like the yarn it certainly makes it feel like the project is taking forever.

As to my list below, I completely forgot that I need to make a few baby sweaters for pregnant friends and family. 2 of each actually, so 4 sweaters. Eek!

I think I'll use the pattern in One Skein Wonders

This one actually



It uses bulky yarn and I think its in one piece so it will fit my needs.

I don't know genders except for one that's a boy so I will need to make them all gender neutral.

Planned projects

Name: Elbac
Description: A gorgeous cabled scarf, I've been looking for a pattern just like this forever.
Yarn: Cascade 220
The purple stuff I bought at random last week



Name: Cardi for Grey
Description: Basic cardigan for next winter, the ear flap hat is completed
Yarn: Lamb's Pride worsted in Grey Heather (they even spell it the same as his name!)
Taos for the big fat stripe in the middle and maybe the collar


My yarn is way cuter than this, BTW. I'm not sure who they are trying to appeal to with the yarn and button choices, ick!

Name: KPS Cardi for Amara
Description: Basic winter cardigan for next season
Yarn: Lamb's Pride in Blue Magic and I have some Noro that I'd like to incorporate for her but not on her skin as she doesn't like the feel of it. Ideas?



And I just bought Black Rainbow with matching black trim. I think this will have to be a soaker for ds for this spring as its 3oz and 1oz which should just be perfect. Oh, and its blue faced leicester yarn!

I also just got some natural BlackBerry Ridge Merino.

And have traded for some hand dyed BBR.

Still looking for projects to use my 10 skeins of my super cheap All Seasons Cotton and the beautiful skein of Lorna's Laces that Pam gave me. Again, ideas? I'm considering a cabled vest for ds, something semi-dressy but would look great with jeans too for the ASC. And maybe some socks from the Lorna's, though I'd hate to make socks since I'm so hard on them.

There is lots of other random yarn to use up of course, but these are definite projects.

And just for your viewing joy, my gorgeous kids that are sick with icky ears, runny noses, and hacking coughs (yet they find the energy to run amok, Shawn assures me this is how its spelled but I doubt it, all day!)