Sheep Shots

I hereby resolve to be a better blogger.

I will blog regularly and often.

I will post pictures of Finished Objects even when it's hard to discern what the heck they are. Witness: black wool cap for Ship Support that is my first 2011 FO.


Pattern from One Skein Wonders (the original) edited by Judith Durant. Yarn is Naturally Loyal (dk weight washable New Zealand Merino wool).



Second FO of 2011 is this baby blanket fashioned from leftover odds and ends of Big Box ack. Mitered squares, lots of ends to work in, but no seaming.

If it looks a bit like a nine-patch quilt with a lot of unbleached muslin, well. . .my work here is done.

It will be a fair entry with a baby sweater (Rambling Rows Jacket by Cottage Creations) and some sort of hat in the red, yellow, green, blue and natural.

Lots more in the planning stages. I promise to post them as they are finished.

Labels: baby things, FOs, ship support

When I put my mind to it, I can get things done!



Witness Sweater #2 of the Ten Sweater Challenge.

It's hard to tell from the photo, but it's a very plain (okay, you could tell that part) top-down raglan sweater.

This one is for the March Challenge for Afghans for Afghans (as is the vest I blogged earlier in the month). I'll be mailing them off this week after this one gets its wash and block.

I used about 800 yards of worsted weight singles (Patons Impressions Hand-Dyed Wool) which is no longer available, but any light worsted weight would produce similar results. It's about 33" around.




This beanie (for Ship Support) was my car driving last weekend. I wove in the ends last night and will mail it this week as well. The yarn is Red Heart Strata (100% ack) that feels rough and stringy in the skein but washes up to a nice soft fabric that is needed for med-evac troops. I believe this stuff may be discontinued, but Smiley's still has a few colors available.

Current Ship Support needs include dark solid 100% wool beanies, seaman's scarves, and gaiters, plus brightly colored wool , blend, or ack beanies and slippers for troops being moved out of the Sandbox for medical care.





January has been a rough month around Casa Sheepie. I haven't been able to blog it, but hope to soon. Stay tuned!

Labels: ship support, Ten sweaters

I've been out of the loop. Sorry.

We've been seasonally busy at work and are having some staff (good) shifting, butp eople have been oinkishly sick (if you get my drift) and so, afternoons, I have come home and crashed (and played Farm Town and Farmville) and have neglected to update the blog.

The good news is that while I am still tired and have my lifting restricted temporarily, I am feeling so very much better.

The knitting has been limited to the mindless variety:

Labels: charity, Cheyenne River, ship support

I have a new computer! (It wasn't my idea.)

The present I gave the Other Half for Christmas (a turntable that allows him to create CDs from our old vinyl technology) won't work well on his computer (why, yes, we are a multi-computer household) so he wants mine.

And since I use mine way more than he uses his, it seemed to make sense that I would upgrade and he would have mine. Sort of.

Of course, that means clearing off the top of my desk (and my desktop, but that's a whole other story). I did that last weekend, then suddenly swapping computers out fell by the wayside (Masters' on tee-vee) and it took less than no time at all to re-clutter the empty surface.

Hey! I'm a busy fiber-holic! And I hope to be typing on a new keyboard by Monday.


And what, pray tell, are these objects littering the landscape?

First up, a finished hat for Ship Support. Good old Red Heart Classic, patterns from somewhere, cast on of 84.

It will be on its way during the next mailing period.


And yes, hats (and slippers) are needed year round for the wounded troops to wear on their evacuation.

Cool ties are the FO of choice for the troops right now It's warming up (in more ways than one) in the Middle East. My sewing skills are rusty, though.




Fair Entry the first. A throw for my living room.


Start in the middle with 8 stitches, keep knitting until your eyeballs bleed or it's the size you want.

The yarn is Patons Decor Sandcastle available from Smiley's. Though it is no longer as cheap inexpensive as when I bought it, it's still a good deal.








Here's an old picture of a square made this way:


Directions can be found here.

















And last but not least, another fair entry. This one's a baby blanket in Red Heart Soft Baby in the Laddie colorway, also from Smiley's.

Just a basic "basketweave" pattern (k5, p5 for 7 rows, then p5, k5 for 7).

I fear that I don't have enough yarn to make it as big as I want. ::sigh:: The story of my life.

Labels: fair entries, ship support

I just finished 2 hats for Ship Support from some stashed Red Heart Sport. Both skeins are the Same Dyelot! and yet, look at that yellow stripe in the hat on the right. Nope. It really isn't in the one on the left. There might be an occasional yellow dot, but nothing like the 3-4 stitch yellow bits in the other skein.

I checked the ball bands numerous times to be sure. Strange, no?

The difference in the width of the stripes is because Left Hat is cast on 100, Right Hat is cast on 90.

Labels: ship support, yarn diet

I recently ordered (and received) both Mason-Dixon Knitting books. (Am I repeating myself? If so, sorry)

Since I am working on a baby gift for a new-coming member of the widely extended family (Older Son's brother-in-law and his wife), I went out and got some boy-appropriate colors of Sugar 'n' Cream and cast on.





The Mason-Dixon Baby Bib o' LoveTM jumped right onto my needles!

Solid blue (I think the color is "light blue") and a big honkin' green button. Size 5 needles.

Followed the pattern to the letter.

Then, I got to thinkin'

(Uh, oh, they all sigh.)








So I tried a little Variation On a Theme.

Blue/tan/white variegated. Big honkin' blue button.

Followed the pattern until I got to the strappy parts.

Then, I knit across 13, cast off the center stitches until there were 13 stitches left on my left needle. I knit to the end *(WS)turned and knit back on the strap stitches, turned, (RS) knit 1, knit 2 together, knit to the end**. Repeat from * to ** twice more, knit even on 10 stitches to 4" in length from the cast off row.

I repeated on the other side, except that the decreases were done one stitch from the neck edge on the wrong side.





I was so pleased with the result that I tried Yet Another Variation On a Theme.

Another variegated, this time shades of blue. Big honkin' yellow button.

This time, I cast on 20 fewer stitches than the pattern calls for. On each RS row, I increased 1 stitch on each edge until I was at the cast on number called for in the pattern then followed the pattern as written.

I used an e-wrap increase which makes a very distinct right- and wrong-side.

I am still refining these variations. Stay tuned!


And 'tis the season to be spreading holiday cheer to the troops!


The pattern for these cute little Christmas stockings is available at Jean Greenhowe's site. It's free and there are lots of variations.

Each stocking uses about 5 or so grams of yarn (DK weight) and something for trim (optional).

I'll keep making these until I run out of the appropriate colors or until the November mailing period for Ship Support.




And because it's getting cold Over There, and because the med-evac units need warm supplies for the patients year-round, and because cheerful is better when you are hurt or sick

Oh what the hey! I like working with these colors!

Red Heart Strata (100% nasty acrylic that softens up in the wash), color Pinball. 90 stitches on size 7 needles.

Got it at Smiley's.

And now, the Other Half and I are off to a used book sale. If there's anything worth reporting, I'll post an update.

Labels: baby things, ship support

One center-out baby blanket. Finished. Finito. F period O period! It's 40" across and very soft.

And washable! Don't forget the important part!

I really have been busy working my knitting fingers to the bone (wadda you get? bony fingers! ::humming::) on this baby blankie from something called Sidar Ultra Denim (see earlier post for fiber content and other specs--I threw away the ball band).






But not before snapping a picture of the leftover ball (I had 5).



What do you mean, there's nothing there?



Oh.

O!








Well, here's a shot of all I had left.

Yep. Snippets.

I had to frog part of the bind off to have enough to finish. That last strand was about 8" long.

Ends are woven. It's put on the pile.



For the Cheyenne River Blanket Blitz.

Coming now! And on through the end of the year.

I am concentrating on baby-size and baby (sort of) colors. This one is "boy" in shades of blue, beige, and yellow.

There's another in pinky shades that I hope to finish this weekend (and then get back to the entrelac -- I just really needed a break!)

And these, in case you couldn't guess, are for Ship Support.



They are 100% (shoot me now) acrylic. Red Heart Strata in Mosaic. The picture at Smiley's looked like shades of brown and black and gray.
In real life (like in my "studio") it's actually gold, sage green, navy, purple, burgundy and that gray and white flecky stuff.

Note: the Pinball colorway is lots brighter IRL than it shows on my monitor, too.

These were fun to knit (basic sock pattern starting with 36 stitches on size 6 dpns --it's definitely worsted weight). I used two different balls so that I could make them as close to identical as possible.


Need a pattern? Check the sidebar for the spot to look in the archives.

There's easily enough on the two balls to make another pair. So I will. Later.

I want to try out the Pinball first.

Labels: baby things, charity, ship support

MIA for a couple of days or so. Overwhelmed and crazy-busy. Sorry. Nothing I can write about. Sorrier.

I did manage to get in some knitting, though not nearly as much as I would like.

The two car blankies have been joined by 2 more Works In Progress.

The lavender blob is a center out baby blankie in Sidar Denim Ultra ("Mega chunky" acrylic/cotton/wool blend. It's machine washable and was a gift from Nanna--thanks, Nanna). I'm knitting it on 15s and it's going very fast. 500 grams will work up to about 40" square. Perfect!



The stripey thing center front is a "bed sock" (slipper) for Ship Support. It's Red Heart Strata (Yes, I know I said there would be no more ack in my stash. I lied. Bite me!).

I was intrigued by the self-striping colorwys. Bought this (Mosaic) and a brighter one (Pinball) at Smiley's. So far, I am not impressed. The stripes are not "engineered" in the way that self-striping sock yarns are, and it is very scratchy. I hear that it softens when washed. It had better. Stay tuned.



Also on the needles (just barely) is a Chrismas sweater. This is all I plan to post about this one until it is finished and on the recipient.

Newish pattern from Knitting Pure and Simple.

Berrocco Ultra Alpaca in Mahogany Mix from Webs.

By contrast, this yarn is a real pleasure to knit up. It's soft and lovely. I could knit on it all evening. And the KP&S pattern? Top down, seamless. What can I say?

(Other than, I hope it fits and that the recipient likes it, of course.)




And last but not least, a baby blankie in Elann's Superwash Worsted. Again, soft, yummy, a pleasure to knit.

The colors aren't ones I would choose for a baby (or maybe I would. . .) but I have it on good authority that they will match the baby's Pack and Play (porta-crib to the uninitiated).

And get this! It's entrelac. Okay, why was I avoiding this technique? It was on my "do it this year" list of resolutions for two years at least.

Piece of cake!

Pattern: House of White Birches Knitting for Babies and Kids.

Labels: baby things, charity, Christmas, ship support

I finished up this car hat last night and thought, "That one's pretty good." So I'll pop it in with the completed fair entries until something better comes along.

Eventually, I'll mail it to Ship Support.

(I guess I should finish it off first, though.)

Labels: fair entry, ship support

I did a little Ship Support knitting this month, in between finishing that afghan and making little things for the Tiny Prince.

The green and gold hat is the redo of the green and gold moccasins that gave me such fits.

The two solid color ones are textured (strictly for interest) and the blue one incorpoates an experiment at the decreases. (Click to make it bigger so you can see what I mean.)

I have always been bugged by ribbed and textured hat patterns that switch to plain stockinette stitch (knit all the stitches if working in the round) for the crown decreasing. It just looks Out Of Place if you know what I mean.

So I decided to try seed stitch (knit, purl around then purl the knits, knit the purls around, rinse, repeat) and at the decrease points, no matter where I was in the patterning, I knit the two stitches together. I really like the way it came out. The decrease stitches form a distinct line, the seed stitch echoes the pattern in the rest of the hat.

You're welcome!

I think I will cast on a pair of Mittnz now.

Labels: knit recipes, ship support

I took a day for me (that would be tomorrow) and a day for the house (that was today) because I have A Lot Of Vacation that I need to use.

So I jumped right on in to the House Cleaning Ritual with both feet.

1) Make a list of tasks to be accomplished.

2) Print it out.

3) Immediately amend to add: Take Cat To The Vet.

::sigh::

But some stuff got done (bathroom is clean, top of stove is clean). Steam cleaning the rugs will wait for tomorrow.

And Sparky got a blood test and 2 new medicines. (Don't a$k!)

Some other stuff got nearly finished, too. Witness:

This:

(Remember my experiment with Excel to produce reasonably "planned out" afghans from a bunch of random squares produced by a bunch of unrelated people?)














Became this:


A reasonably "planned out" afghan.

I'm still working on the half double crochet border all around, and it needs a wash and block, but for all intents and purposes, it's finished and will be on its way to the intended recipient soon.

As I look at the photo, I see squares I'd like in other places, but there is No Way In Hell I am moving anything.



I gave up on this:


Sock/slipper knitting of the intense variety sucks the living soul out of me. There are two to be accomplished for every FO, and though I had done the striped part on both of them and about 1/2 of the toe cap, I Just Couldn't Bring Myself to Finish.

So, I frogged. Rippit, Rippit!

Back to the component parts.

And cast on a hat.

Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do!

Labels: cats, current events, ship support

Just a quickie to show off a bit. Here's a put-together-from-squares-made-by-others afghan that I am finishing up this weekend.

Squares are 7" on a side (mostly) created by a number of people who are part of The Ships Project in a variety of red and blue acrylic yarns.

Joining yarn is Red Heart Classic Olympic Blue.

Intended victim recipient is a soldier who served as Point of Contact (POC) for the Project in the Sandbox.

I have about 1/2 of the outside edging to complete, then it's in the mail it goes.

Labels: ship support

This one's for the "joiners" and the scrapghan makers!

I honed a tool I've been using for a while to help me with the Point of Contact (POC) afghan joining, and let me tell you, this has made life a whole bunch easier.

If you are a tactile person, this technique may mot be for you, but after a week of On-The-Floor crawling around to serve the Tiny Prince, I can tell you that these knees no longer crawl all that well!



First up, traditional method of setting afghan squares into place:

First

(okay, second. First is edging them all with a round of something--I used half-double crochet)

you spill them onto the floor.

Vacuuming first is optional, though recommended.

No, I didn't. Why?





Then you get onto the floor and start moving them around into a pleasing pattern.

Then you shift them.

Then you move them again.

And again.

And possibly, again.

All the while, cursing that you were too cheap to didn't buy rug padding.

Ibuprofen will be served after.



There is a better way!

And if you are reading this, it involves tools you already have (probably) at your very fingertips!

Excel, my sisters and brothers! Tool of the debbilMicrosquish. (any spreadsheet program that is installed on your machine will work. I happen to be Excel-literate or thought I was until we installed the latest version which has so damned many new features as to overwhelm the casual user, but I digress).

::ahem::

Okay, open up Excel your spreadsheet program!

See all those cute little squares (okay, rectangles)?

You can manipulate the size of those puppies through the "format" tab. I changed them to square by setting the Column Width to 4.57 and the Row Height to 35. That gave me nice square squares. Your mileage (and your version) may vary, so be prepared to play around a bit.

Next, figure out how many squares of each color you have to work with (I counted, then jotted that number on the spreadsheet)and start playing with the "fill" function. Fill will generally allow you to pick through (at the very least) the basic "crayon" colors. Some versions have subtle variations. Go crazy, here. You aren't marryingthe colors!



If you have a color printer (I don't) you can go nuts with intense colors. If you are limited to black on white printing (like I am) you might consider using less intense color, but more obvious "shades" so that when you print (assuming you plan to) you will be able to tell one color from the other.

You can save your doodling and come back to it later (that's what I did), or print it out (assuming that you have a color printer). I plan to work right from the screen.


Or, you can print it out on your black and white printer and use your trusty colored pencils (or crayons) to indicate colors (I've done that, too).

For the red and blue 'ghan (with two "duo-colored accents" that aren't as abrupt as they look in the graph), I'll be using the layout in the upper left.

The jury's still out on the red/white/blue one (since I haven't edged the squares yet). A couple of these layouts use exactly the number of squares I have on hand. One (upper left) requires that I make 2 more red squares before I start joining.

The whole process is lots of fun! And sure beats crawling around on the floor.




You're welcome.

Labels: planning, ship support

We came back upstairs after watching a night of bad stuff to the sounds of many (dare I say dozens?) of blaring sirens. The Other Half had just taken the trash our and swore he detected a smell of "smoke too strong to be someone's fireplace."

It sounded a lot like they were approaching our 'hood. Then it sounded like they were lost (the sound of circling sirens, ya know?). Then is sorta faded away.

Then the Other Half remembered. League basketball championships. . .

Small town life. Every winning team gets a parade. Even if it's 11 o'clock at night. And even if it's just the team riding on fire trucks and parents waving from the sidewalk.

Afterthought: I just checked the newspaper, and "Our boys" did indeed win the Colonial League Championship.

Unlike the girls' basketball teams which are perennial winners, our high school boys' teams were so terminally bad for so long that this is a nice surprise. (And I had already determined that I would need to rewrite this entry if the town had actually burned to the ground while the firetrucks circled endlessly.)

Way to go, Bulldogs! Keep those wins coming!

The Younger Kid got us a Netflix subscription for Christmas, so we've been exploring a bunch of different genres that we wouldn't couldn't find at our local 48 Hours (in some cases, with very good reason). Many of these movies are so obscure that Netflix is probably the only thing keeping them alive.

One such movie is The Corpse Grinders, an achingly bad B horror movie from the early 70s. The cinematography is reminiscent of the porn of the era (go on, admit you saw some in college) with really bad acting, really bad costuming, really cheap sets, wobbly camera action, no story line. Okay TCG had a story line (silly, unbelievable) but it had all the other features as well. The scary thing is that the producer made a sequel in 2000. (We will not be requesting it!) I can thank Janice for the recommendation, and now you can thank me.

I was directed to this cute pattern and I am giving serious thought to changing the colors and making it for The Tiny Prince of Wails. Discuss. He's a baby for lord's sake! Babies can wear stuff like this no matter what the gender! (Navy, red, white, maybe light blue. I dunno. No pink.--Pink makes me break out in hives.)

I gathered all my Heet the Feet donations into one corner of my "office/studio" this morning for a glamor shot. The big box is the socks and slippers I have purchased, mostly at places like the Dollar Tree where Fruit of the Loom socks with an MSRP of $5 for 2 pairs are 2 pairs for a buck.

The smaller (emptier) box is the slippers I have knit. Clearly, I need to get busy!

My plan is to mail the last week of the month.

For those of you coming late to this Challenge, the goal of Heet the Feet is to provide warm Feet Heeters (socks, slippers, etc. to the Lakota Sioux kids (and adults) living on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota (where it is very, very cold. If you are interested in helping with handmade or purchased Heeters, start knitting (or crocheting) and plan to send me a picture of your Very Best Effort. A People Choice Award hangs in the balance. Very Cool Purchased Socks are eligible. After all, it's People's Choice.

If you'd like to join Native American Support you are very welcome.



And on another knitting note, here are the first (of I hope many) Hugs From Home that I have knit for Ship Support this month.

Lest anyone think I added the pattern because I am cheapfrugal and was running out of yarn, I present the leftovers from each of the hats. There might be slippers!


It's snowing here in eastern Pennsylvania, USA. I have friends in the Southern Hemisphere where it is summer. I wonder how they would feel about houseguest(s).

Labels: baby things, charity, Cheyenne River, heet the feet, movies, ship support, small towns

This has been The week From Hell, but the weekend is looking better.

Just dropping by to upload the photo of this week's FOs--this time for Ship Support.

More later.

Labels: ship support

Well, the one absolutely positively must-finish is done! Yes!!

Here you see it in the obligatory "bed shot" since the bedspread on the bed the Other Half, Sparky, and I share is pretty much the only flat surface (that isn't covered with other stuff) that happens to be a solid color in this entire house!

Actually, I think the denim shows off the Christmas colors well.

This is (I may have mentioned) the 6th incarnation of this particular pattern.

I have played around with the placement of the motifs, and this time, I took a gigantic leap of faith and converted the pattern to in-the-round. (It worked!)




The original was knit flat to the heel. Heel stitches were moved to a holder (piece of yarn), then the instep was knit flat.

Next, a pretty standard heel flap was knit (in suitable contrasting color) the heel was turned, then the sole was knit (flat again) . A quick look at the finished stocking explains that part--only the instep is patterned on the foot.

So, okay, once the sole is the same length as the instep, the pattern calls for a switch to dpns and toe knit in the round.

Then seaming the back and the two sides of the foot. Three seams!

Let's be fair. One of the choices of patterning for the leg portion is an intarsia deer. No way that's going to be stranded and knit in the round. Ain't happening.

(Okay, the very first one, I knit in the deer. Confession time: I stranded the legs. And the antlers.)


This time around, I knit the leg part in the round (so much easier than trying to purl stranded!) and the foot flat.

Two mattress stitched seams, not three.

Then I chain stitched the little guy's name on the toe, just like the one I made for his daddy 30 years ago and the one I made for his mom a lot more recently.

All finished and ready to hang on the china cabinet, stair rail, or kitchen chair with care. Because, folks, there ain't no mantle. Not in this house or the one the little guy lives in.

::sigh::




And in case anyone was wondering what happened to the hat from hell, here's how I rescued it.

Stripes.

It looks better than it did.

Labels: baby things, Christmas, ship support

Damn!

I liked this color in the store! (Truthfully, I found this color "acceptable" in the store. Or suitable. Yeh. That's the ticket. Not revolting and an able companion to the other two shades of blue. Nothing more. I used a few yards from the skein and committed the rest to the next Ship Support beanie.

But let me just say that I'm not feeling the love.

I was almost to the decreasing part and thinking, "this isn't so bad," when I looked again and realized, "um, yes it is!" and so, Dear Reader, I ripped back several inches and now I am adding some stripes, because plain, it really is soooo bad.

And I have hit a wall. There are things to knit. Knittig to be done. And I Can't Get Myself Motivated.

So there!

Today, the Other Half and I will not venture into stores (except for groceries), We need to hit the farmers market, the warehouse club place (BJ's) and the local grocery chain to be Mystery Shoppers (remember to ask me to Check Out Hunger? Win a prize.)

But first, we are off to have blood drawn. Fasting. And maybe fainting, too. And then breakfast out.

I can hardly wait!

Labels: ship support

Wow! I didn't think I had made any dent in the ol' stash this month but Woo Freakin' Hoo! Down a pound, a mile, and 10 balls!

Don't tell anyone, but I think it's because I gave some away (Prizes. Mittnz.)

And I'm not counting that fun fur up on top. No siree bob.

So, in addition to the Warm Up Box (which now contains tea bags and soup mix along with the hats), I am celebrating by knitting squares for Ship Support this month. I'd like to make one a day (30) before the end of the month, but I got a late start and I have finished only 2.5.

Will I make it? (I'm giving it my best shot.)

Will I post daily? (Not on your life!)

Labels: ship support, yarn diet

The Younger Kid and I both survived the shopping trip and his new furniture will be delivered tomorrow.




Of course, a trip in the car required a small amount of conversation along the lines of, "I need to get some bibs or a little hat or something. . .baby gift."

Upon hearing who the happy parents are, I offered a trip to the Shoppe of Mom which was accepted.

Of course, there's nothing suitable in the Shoppe at the moment seeing as how the Older Kid's Baby's shower last weekend cleaned me out but good of Boy Things.

Being a good Shoppekeeper, I threw some leftobers together and voila, there was suddenly 24 hours later, a little hat (you've seen the pattern here before) and a pair of mitts.

I believe that I had better stockpile some of these in a variety of colors. The population, she is exploding!




And in episodes of Car Knitting, I have managed to finish 2 hats. Red Heart Classic "Spice" on the left and "Mexicali" (I think that may be derogatory) on the right.

I've already mailed to Ship Support this month so these will either be held until January, or will go in the Warm Up Box.

There are no movie reviews. (Haven't been for several weeks, do you miss them?) We're trying to catch up on TiVo.

Labels: baby things, ship support

Sparky has been helping with the accessorization of my darker yarns. Nothing like a little white cat hair to jazz up plain black wool!

And we've both been looking for a Happy Place. She seems to have found hers in my closet. By pushing all of my shoes out of the way.

I wonder if there's enough room in there for me to join her.



It's been a rough week here in Lake Wobegon. Work has sucked the living soul from me, as we are missing a key person, and though others have offered to step up, there are some things that would take so much explanation that it's easier just to do them myself. And so I have.

But I am tired.

Thankfully, it's only one more week.



One of my coworkers has a friend who is undergoing chemo and has lost her hair and it's getting cold here in the Northeast, folks (though following on the heels of recordbreaking high temperatures, it was something of a surprise)!

He asked if I could/would make a cap for his friend.



Thinking soft, thinking washable, I stash-dove and came up first with some Fun Fur Stripes (in the South Beach colorway--long stretches of turquoise, lime, and pink) that made up quickly on size 10.5s.

It was acceptable. Soft, warm, a little funky.

Then I found this skein (or 3) of Lion Color Waves. The color is called Sunset Red. The pattern is on the label.

This stuff is positively vile to knit. It's bouclé. It's acrylic. It sticks to bamboo, nylon, and Addis. But it makes a lovely fabric! It's soft, it's warm, and it's a bit funky.

I handed off the remaining 2.5 skeins to someone else to make a matching scarf (or not) and threw in the skein of Pebble Beach colorway for good measure. I am happy to be rid of it!


I've done some other soul-sucking knitting (also for a good cause) this week. The Ship Support call is out for warm wool garments for troops stationed in Afghanistan.

I attempted a gaiter (tube scarf) with really bad results, so I frogged it and made the seaman scarf pictured on the left instead. It's the classic pattern, suggested by the Seamen's Church Institute, and though I was tempted to embellish, the best I could bring myself to was a slipped stitch edge.

After all, it's about the recipient, not me!

Yarn: well-aged Brown Sheep NatureSpun in Pepper.




And I'll be casting on this adorable bunting (Vogue KOTG Baby Knits) with the Brown Sheep Lambs Pride Superwash Bulky shown as soon as I figure out how to restructure the sizing.

The pattern calls for a 28" chest for the 3 month size. The Other Half pronounced it "shaped like it would fit a starfish!" And though I have no doubt that McMunchkin will be a superstar, being the first 2-legged grand on either side of the family, I'm pretty sure that he's more likely to be longer than average, rather than wider!

The colder weather has brought out the urge to knit with wool, and so I will. While looking for my Happy Place.

Labels: baby things, big people clothes, ship support