Pictures say a thousand words

and there are none in this post. :)

The husbands second sock is on it's way. I am about ten rounds into the ribbing (it has 30). I was putting off starting it since the husband did something great (at my very insistent nudging :) ) and bought me the new Knit Picks Harmony wood DPN set!! It's been 5 days since they shipped and so far nothing...I'm getting impatient! I want to use them already but since they aren't here I needed to start the sock. I'll switch out once they get here.

I finished up a pair of wool nursing pads. It didn't take long at all. However, I have no need for them now. :) By the time I finished them leaking was no longer an issue. I got the first one done in a few hours and then lost momentum so by the time the second one got started and finished it was probably a week or so.

I also finished up a ballband rag for my kitchen last night. After it was done and people left my hosue I cleaned up. Did dishes, wipe down counters, and spot cleaned my floor. It's ok. Not sure what the big to do is about these. Yeah they look cool and they are a super fast addictive knit but as for cleaning. Eh. I like my first one far better (my first washrag that is) but it has a hole in it now and I needed a back up. I think I'll make more in that pattern. I did make my ballband shorter than the pattern says so it is an awkward rectangle shape but it just seems too......full/fluffy to be a comfy rag. It's longer than my first rag but the feel is soooo different (same brand cotton and everything) and isn't as easily grasped. I don't know. Maybe I expect too much from a washrag.

I also have another Swirl sock finished. I did this one in Artyarns (the color I frogged awhile back) and love it. I want to start the second one but I need to get the second husband sock finished. I want to finish his by Saturday for our anniversary and I know if I start mine it won't get touched.

I started a large (by large I mean worked on size 15 needles!) mietered square. I'm going to finish it up and then work a nice thick border and slap it under my dish strainer. I also have a pair of Picky Pants OTN. I'm goin to frog whats done on them though. I joined a sock group on Ravelry the other day and was looking through their post archives and found one on various toes, heels, and cuffs. Someone recommended a 3x1 rib for a cuff so I frogged back on my Swirl sock (I had been on there looking for a stretchy bind off since I was at that point on the sock) and used that. It snapped back into place after I took it off! It was great. So I am going to try it out on the waist of this pair of Picky Pants. I also plan on frogging back on my Regia Silk socks and redoing the cuff and bind off on those as well.

Hopefully by Saturday, should everything go as planned, I should have 6 FO's to show. I'll have at least 3 since they are already done....I say by Saturday since the camera will be back home by then.

Up and coming

1. Sock 2 of Gentleman's Plain Winter Sock
2. Socks for both wee ones
3. Socks for K
4. Hooded Kaftan for the walking wee one
5. Seasame from Magknits for moi
6. washcloths for the kitchen
7. pad for under the dish strainer
8. boxes for the toys in the living room

A slew of knitting

First up is the Adorably Ewe longies I got. I-cord bind off on the legs..a nice little roll to make it look finished but nothing obvious. Short rows on the butt and an elastic waistband. I am loving the waistband. I have put off trying this particular one for some reason...not sure why. I have been debating how to do the waist on the winter longies I plan on making the oldest wee one and this is it! Since she's potty trained it will make it easier for her to get them up and down on her own, it has a nice finished look to them, and I don't have to worry about it not fitting/growing with her. I love these longies! Nice and soft. They are big even though they are newborn size (they fit the 2 year old) but I don't care. That just means we can use them longer. :) I would totally buy from her and am glad I have a friend addicted to wool (she won them....her daughter is in mediums hehehe)!

Next is the husband's sock. I finished the first one! It only took me about a week to do but I blame that on having a baby and not on my slow knitting. :) It actually wasn't that bad. I thought for sure I would get really bored with it, especially since it's so long but I didn't. I altered some things (of course!). The stitches count is higher (75 for the cuff and decreased to 73 for the heel), the heel is different (it's the basic one from The Knitters Handy Book of Patterns), the gusset is longer (the pattern has you decrease down to 8 less than your cast on number so I kept with that....it ended up being a LOT of gusset decreases), and then an extra decrease in the toe portion. I had to redo the two twice actually. the first time I did it I had 22 stitches per needle. I just went with the flow and did the toe as written without rearranging stitches after my first decrease round. I quickly ran out of stitches on needle 2 while having too many on needles 1 and 3. So I frogged back, decreased my first round, and then rearranged stitches according to the pattern. MUCH nicer! I had the husband try it on last night and he said it was too short...his toes were curling! I did not want to redo the toe again so I decided to block it (which may be a first time for me :) ). He only needed about another 1/4 inch so undoing the 2 1/4 inches that the toe alone makes up was not an option for me. I wet blocked it...got it wet, stretched it out, and pinned it down last night. I had him try it on again at lunch and what do you know! It worked! So glad I went that route. He claims I am a knitting cheater. I claim that I am a knitting pattern follower since the pattern says to block it. :)

Now this. This is something special. Two ladies that are part of a client of ours sent us a gift box as a congrats on the new baby. This was one of the items. A handknit jacket. The walking wee one loves it! The left cuff is unrolled to show the length. it fits her perfectly! The hood attachment and construction is what gets me. There is a drawstring caseing on it! It's attached via a section of ribbing. I have been looking at a lot of hoodies/hooded jackets for her the last little while since it's starting to get chilly and she'll need something. I have yet to see a pattern design that has either of those qualities. Maybe it's not so unique but man it's neat to see! I wasn't too sure on it when I pulled it out. It's not my colors and the jacket itself is rather bulky/heavy. It also screams of an older generation/style. My opinion does not matter though as it was quickly yanked from my hands by a toddler. So I put it on (her not me) and wow! Does wearing an item change the way it looks! It's looks so cute on! Now I don't have to worry about whipping something out as quickly as I was planning. She has something to wear for now. I don't know how long it will fit her but I have a feeling she will keep wearing it after it no longer does. She's a bit determined in that regard. :)

Still here

I was just busy...you know..off having a baby and all. :)

I do have an FO to show you despite that busy little event!

Stats:

WHW wrap

Size newborn

BFL yarn (unknown colorway and supplier...this was part of my Knitty Board sock swap package)

Icord bind off

The new one is tiny....a little more than 6 pounds so everything I have made it a tad large on her. I expected the same of my Curly Purly soaker. Maybe it's just me and the soaker knowing I was less than pleased with it (at first...I totally loved it after I fixed the cuffs) but it does not fit. The oh so fabulous waistband that made me finally break down and do it (because honestly you can only read about something that is oh so fabulous for so long) is oh so not fabulous. At least for us. I put it on her (over a sposie no less! I was eager to try it out but her cord was not off yet so we were sticking to sposies since her cloth sits high...I digress) and my lord did she scream! I yanked it off as fast as I could and those 2 minutes it was on left indents in her stomach. Maybe she has a mongo buddah belly? Who knows but it did not go over well. And even though the pleats are great the actual cast on edge does not stretch to the same degree the rest of it does (and I knew that would be the case) and is kind of a barrier in that regard. Why do you care? Well that meant I was one cover short. I needed something pretty quick so I whipped up the wrap in a matter of a couple days. I'm glad I only made the one CP soaker. I am hoping it was just a defective cast on edge. Either way, I won't be making more and have plans to frog the one and reuse the yarn for another wrap. The day I finished it I also got a very sweet pair of Adorable Ewe newborn longies in the mail as a surprise. They are huge on her! My potty trained 2 year old can wear them. Granted they look like biking shorts on her but they fit none the less. :)

Shockingly enough I have had the same amount of knitting time as I did before having another baby. This whole sleep all day thing newborns do tends to allow for that. :) That there is a sock. For the husband. Yes I know...even more shocking than the fact that I am still knitting. I'm using the Gentleman's Plain Winter Sock pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks with a few modifications. The husband has some nice shaply legs so I added 5 stitches to my cast on. I also did less ribbing and less of the stockinette portion. The pattern ends up having a 9 inch leg! I think this one is only about 7 inches. I had him try it on last night when I got ready to do the heel (I didn't want to get the heel done and find out it didn't fit...that was harder to bear than say knitting 7 inches and then not having it fit...call me crazy) and it fits great! I decreased down to 73 stitches for the heel and am doing the basic heel from The Knitters Handy Book of Patterns. I tried to tweak the patterns heel (Dutch heel) to fit with the number of stitches I had but it wasn't working. I was getting tired of fiddling with it and no one had answered a post I made on MDC. I am just about done with the heel flap and then I'll turn it. Then comes the boring part.....many inches of stockinette for a long big man foot. Oh the joy. I am surprised at how quickly they are going (well this one at least). I plan on having them done for our anniversary and if I can manage to get by the dreaded SSS they should be done long before. He's excited. He could barely contain his glee last night as he tried it on. I wish I could have kept them a surprise but there was no way I was going to do a whole pair of socks for this size foot and not know if it was going to fit. All future pairs can be a surprise.