Ruffles for Christmas

Have you started thinking about and/or working on the gifts you're giving this Christmas? I have been brainstorming for weeks, have ordered some materials (guess what my material of choice is!), and I started the first gift late last night. Thanks to an hour of America's Funniest Home Videos followed by an hour of Project Runway (part 1 of 2 of the season finale!), I've gotten quite a bit of work done on it tonight. Ruffles, anybody?

And, not that you'll get this at all if you're not a knitter, but I totally pulled the loose tail from inside this skein. On the first try. *Rock Star.*

Sunday, knitty Sunday

About a month ago I had Brittany, a girlfriend from work, come over to the house. I had worn my Desert Rose to our monthly meeting where we all come together for updates and chit-chat, and she was impressed that I had made it all on my very own. I proudly showed her the puff sleeves, the lace inset down the front, and the pretty neckline that I! actually! finished! Okay, okay, one more showing and then I'll stop.

(!!!!!)

So back to when I had Brittany over last month. I taught her how to cast on, and how to create a scarf, knitting every row. She picked a tough yarn to use as a beginner, Lion Brand's Homespun Yarn. It's beautiful because when it's knitted up, it's very fluffy, and has a sort of curly weave. But it's tough to learn with.

It's tough because of how it twists on itself. As a starter, Brittany tended to tug and pull on the working yarn, which caused this particular yarn to bunch up on itself. Once she got the hang of it, and settled into the ease of knitting back and forth for miles on end, the scarf really turned out great. Brittany couldn't wait to show me her finished project, a pretty dusty blue scarf made just by her, just for herself. She even got to wear it proudly on a quick weekend vacation in Colorado! She couldn't wait to start on a new project, and was ready to be challenged. And, to top it off, her best friend/Vespa's nanny (for when we're on "holiday" in a week (!!!)) Sabrina wanted to learn the craft.

Sunday afternoon, the girls drove over to my house. We met up, played with Vespa for a few minutes, and squatted at the computer in front of countless projects on Ravelry. Brittany really wanted to knit something challenging, and Sabrina needed something for a beginner-beginner. I wanted something useful and quick. And after about 30 minutes of girly-giggling around, we found something that we all got excited about--a camera sock! These are the pictures that notanartist posted of her completed project on Ravelry.com along with the quick and easy pattern.

Cute, huh? Quick and easy. It was still quite a bit advanced for Sabrina who had never even held knitting needles before, it was a challenge for Brittany because a) she learned the purl stitch and b) she learned to knit in-the-round and c) she learned how to make decreases as well as stitch the bottom closed. And for me, it's been super-super quick. Here's mine, after about 10 minutes of work during Carlton's eye appointment this afternoon, and an hour of work in front of the tv tonight:

Sabrina, Brittany, and I had a pretty good time. It was a little overwhelming for Sabrina, but she stuck in there like a trooper and is excited to get back together soon to finish hers with assistance. Brittany's has turned out great--she worked on it later that night and is almost finished. And mine, as you can see, is a pretty poppy red color and is ready to be used heavily on our trip through Greece!

Here, you can see Brittany proudly wearing her blue scarf as she learns how to join her double pointed needles for knitting in-the-round. Naked Vespa is entranced by Sabrina's kind-hearted chuckle, and glad that her future nanny is so easily conned into scratching her neck for her.

Sabrina and Brittany, smiling with their cookies and yarn. Yes, I made cookies for the knitting girls!

Brittany can even multitask now... Momma's so proud! Just look at those knitter's fingers, all tangled up to hold the needles just so. Only a knitter can appreciate this pro finger stance!

A Sunday Afternoon Knitting Party tradition, perhaps?

My Dream Studio

Eyelet Sage Studio, a blog I like to look in on pretty frequently, just posted a question that really interested me. Because I recently took the Sproost Test online in addition to ranting and gushing over various design elements I hate and love, Eyelet's question perked my Interior Designer's interest: "What would your creative space look like?"



I would love to have an open, lofty feel like this room has. Clerestory windows along at least one wall, and full windows from those on down to the floor. Light pine trims framing a creamy white wall. Recessed and track lighting smartly illuminating a glossy cream colored ceiling, reflecting even more clean light on the space below.

Sure, I'd love to have the furniture that's pictured above, but I would still need room for the necessary creative outlets such as an easel for painting with oils, my drafting table for drawing up floor plans... or for painting watercolors... or for the new and cute little Brother, sewing up the next Sewing Green project.

I would add a wall of light pine cubby shelving, each hole fit with its own plastic tub (like the shelving Katie and Saunders got for Katie Anne), and fill them all with my yarn stash in order of the colors of the rainbow, starting with light pink and ending in lavender. I'd also use it to store current (as in, the last year or two only) magazines for inspiration. And art history, color theory, crafting instructional books. A vase of sunflowers, paperwhites, or irises. And maybe even some of my ceramics.

And, again, I'd definitely have to have a hand-knit, hand-felted rug in the space to make the bumpy, scratched, abused, reclaimed black-stained barn wood floors cozy and comfy.



I'd also like a section of a wall--like, 4'x6'--covered in a coarse cork to use as a built-in, tack-on idea board. (Yes, you can buy cork as wallpaper! Amazing, I know.) A shiny white lacquered frame built around it could make it a great focal point. Inspirational magazine clippings, restaurant napkin ideas, and torn-out journal entry thoughts. What else? Fabric swatches that inspire. Paint chips that make me happy. And plenty, plenty, plenty (!) of lists. And a calendar that I picked up on our latest weekend flyaway to Paris, of course, daaaah-ling.


Wouldn't a potter's wheel be perfect, tucked away in a dark corner? I don't know why it's a dark corner in my mind's eye, but I think it would tend to the concentration aspect of throwing pottery... along with a sweet Bose speaker system.

And, now that I'm thinking of it, I really think I have a novel idea here... just bare with me as I think it out, it's something I haven't considered before. I'm thinking of a gallery wall, just on the inside of the doorway to the studio. I'd display drawings, sketches, floorplans, paintings, and shadow boxes of 3-dimensional artwork as well as a few short display shelves... but I wouldn't just display finished works. I think it would be a great way to step back and re-evaluate works-in-progress as well. Ever seen how many unfinished works the great Renaissance masters had? And they're displayed in museums around the world. Why couldn't mine be on display in my own tidy little studio getaway? :)

These are the off-the-top-of-my-head thoughts for my ideal crafting/art making studio. Some day, I hope to have even a couple of these for myself! "What would your creative space look like?"

Razor Camisole

Toula is currently on hold. I know, CRY! There's a snag in the pattern, and I'm not really sure how to figure it out on my own without royally ruining the entire project. Right now she's in three pieces, pouting under the end table in the great room. A torso and two sleeves, just piled up and stuffed out of the way until I can be taught how to put her together properly. I'm leaving her alone until the maker of her pattern replies to my very long comment on her own blogspot. I tried emailing, but her box was full, so hopefully she'll check in on her blogspot before I go out of my mind with anticipation!

To hold me over until my work on Toula can be resumed, I took a short trip over to Joann and picked up some silk bamboo blend yarn I've been eyeing since I started Desert Rose at the beginning of 2009. I also picked up a new set of double pointed needles--the smallest I've worked with yet, a US size 1. The yarn is pretty small and so the needles needed to be small as well, so that the top won't be all hole-y and funny looking. The size 1s are really a lot tougher to work with and hold! Plus, Joann only carried a US size 1 in metal which I don't really care for (I prefer bamboo but also use plastic) because my knitting gauge is pretty slack and any loose loops just slip right off the slick metal. The naturally tidy ribbing in bamboo gives enough texture to hold the loops on nice and snug. I'm interested in trying out some ebony needles, too, some day. Gotta get this round-the-world collection of knitting needles started ASAP!

I'm pretty excited about this pattern because it's going to be easy to adjust from its size xs pattern... just add 12 stitches for each 2 inches I need for it to fit. I'm making the top pretty loose. As a silk-bamboo blend, the yarn has a beautiful pearly sheen and lazy drape to it, so I think it'd be pretty as a loose-fitting cami as long as there's a belt around my waist. It'll be pretty, cool, easy, and quick for the trip coming up!


This pattern came free from the web site I've raved about before, Ravelry.com which is an online knitting/crochet blog site. A lot of patterns are listed free of charge, which is nice. For some reason, I gravitate towards paying an artist for her pattern, so I usually pick patterns that cost a little something (the average price of a pattern is only about $3-$7 anyway). It's hard work to make a pretty piece, and I like the knitting artist to feel appreciated for sharing it with me. This camisole, however, was a free pattern and I'm glad I've got it to work on until Toula's emergency pattern surgery comes to thruition.

I'll probably just stick to "Razor Cami" for this one. And, no, this is obviously not me.

Relief!

So, I recently voiced my concerns over getting this Toula completed. I was afraid that knitting with (and switching out) multiple colors was going to be more difficult than I could bare. Then I finally started looking up "chart knitting" on YouTube--my knitting savior!--and found the simplest answer I could never have thought of on my own. When I'm done knitting one color, just drop it and start with the next color the chart calls for. I had this idea in my head that the unused colors would need to be carried over on the "wrong side" aka inside of each stitch. I didn't know how this could actually work out. And as it turns out, my little Curly Sue head was thinking way too hard.

I must say, I'm beyond ecstatic about this discovery, that knitting with multiple colors is going to be so easy for me. Now, instead of putting off the finished product of Toula, I'm hoping to be wearing her within two weeks, finished buttonholes and all! If any of you are at all interested in learning to knit, or refreshing your memory on getting started, I have two FANTASTIC resources for you... both on YouTube. Easy-to-follow verbal instructions describe each step these ladies are taking to create the stitches, and the videos are close up and focused in on the hands as they work the yarn and needles. I'm a lefty, and work from left to right (backwards from EVERYONE else in the world, I'm beginning to think), but these ladies work things in such detail that I find it SO EASY to reverse their stitches to fit my own backward process.

Knit Witch will teach you the very first basics of making any knit or purl stitch, ribbing, and other technical stitches. She works very slowly, and is very thorough. She uses a light colored yarn in front of a dark background, so everything is very easy to see. Her videos taught me every single thing I needed to know about making my Desert Rose (find my birthmark!), my first-ever non-scarf knitted project, if that proves anything about her teaching abilities!

Knitting Tips By Judy is very helpful as well! She posts videos of a few more "advanced" (for my ability at least) projects. She just taught me how to knit using multiple colors. I watched her "checkerboard pattern" video once and understood completely how to change colors in my Toula.


Now I can't finish the second sleeve fast enough, and can't WAIT to begin the floral pattern around the neckline. I will definitely post my progress. Wish me luck!

Progress on Toula

I have been working at a much slower, relaxed pace on my Toula. I think it's because I'm going to have to learn a totally different way of reading a pattern, and this way is scary. And this sweater is scary not only because it's a different type of pattern to read, but because I'll be working with multiple colors... and I've never done that before. Scary!

The Desert Rose pattern reads like an instruction manual on putting together cheap pressed wood/veneer furniture straight from the WalMart shipment box. K1 (knit one stitch), P3 (purl three stitches), K3tog (knit three stitches together), and so on. Just an itemized list. Once I watched a couple videos on YouTube, I was able to figure it out every step of the way. I learned how to make new stitches, and put those new stitches together into the sequence that the pattern listed.



Toula the Tulip, however, is so scary! It's just a grid. That's it. A colored grid. Different colored boxes in the grid indicate different colors, and in some cases, different types of stitches (in this particular pattern, they only indicate different colors). This sweater is still worked in the round (one long continuous spiral of stockinette stitch) just like Desert Rose was, but this pattern calls for the sleeves to be knitted separately and then attached later, when the decorative (multicolored) neckline is introduced.


So far I have the body of the sweater complete. I've got just about half of one of the sleeves completed as well. I'm just working so slowly because it's a scary new territory! There's a local yarn store I drove by when taking Vespa to her vet's office, so I'm considering that as my last resort if I just can't seem to figure things out for myself. I have a feeling that making these button holes, using multiple colors of yarn, and putting pieces of the sweater together (the sleeves)... this is gonna be a tougher piece to finish. Wish me luck!

My very own "Trisha Do" list

I've been shopping around and have found just a few projects I really want to accomplish this year. Most are, of course, knitting projects, but others involve other crafty endeavors. And some things are just things that I want, which will in turn lead to more projects to complete. I don't have any set timeline for finishing any of the projects, I just know that I've found quite a bit of new materials and inspirations and must chronicle them as they are checked off my list.

1) What started this was a simple internet search through a fantastic knitting "blog" site I am a member of - actually, I'm more of a silent stalker. I don't post there, haven't presented any projects there, but have found lots of great knits and have been very inspired. My very own Desert Rose was a pattern purchased from the site, so it's obviously a trustworthy place to shop around. Lots of knitters post at Ravelry.com and tell how easy or hard a project is, share their likes and dislikes about the patterns, and even offer their own custom changes to many knits. So, I found this summer sweater that I'm head-over-heels for, and absolutely must knit.

It's very me, with some white linen pants and yellow flats... for some reason. I followed links for search for the original pattern to the sweater and found myself at this site where the pattern is located. Along with the pattern to the sweater I was originally searching for, I also fell in love with at least half the other pieces and have decided that this book is most definitely number one on my list of things to do this year.

2) Not only am I a silent stalker on Ravelry, but my Ravelry silent stalking was a spill-over effect from the same silent stalking practices here on blogger.com. I know, I know. I have been embarrassed to actually click the "follow" button on so many blogs, I have just bookmarked them and check them as often as I read up on my regularly "followed" blogs. One of these blogs was a recent find, and I am so obsessively all about backtracking and reading up on every single one of her knits! She knits a lot, and for her little baby girl niece as well as her two yorkie pups. And for herself, of course. As I was backtracking and looking at older posts of hers, I came upon this post with these:

My house will be littered with these... in jars, on shelves, in bowls... for the rest of my life, and you can count on that. I. Must. Make. These.

3) I want a special, nice, light birch or golden olive wood box to hold handwritten recipes. I want special recipe cards with embossed corners and my monogram in block letters centered at the top. It'll have its very own shelf in the kitchen, open without doors for easy access... but will be reserved for my hands only, and only for special occasions. I have no idea where this idea came from, but my mom has a special recipe box she refers to on only the most sacred of recipes - tea cookies, peanut butter cookies, pie crust, Christmas coffee cake. Some of the recipe cards are barely legible because they've been handled and used so many times, buttery fingers have moved them aside, flour has dashed across them. I want my own! In a very special box. On very special cards. Reserved for the very specialest of special recipes. And favorite recipes. I want holiday recipes and birthday cake recipes and old family recipes. I want to collect the recipes of those who are close and special to me, too. They'd all go in the box. Where will I find this box? Or, should I have this box made for me?

4) I need to have one of these rugs in my own home. I am in love. Wouldn't this one be perfect, simply butted up against an L-shaped sectional in a sort of nude-gray oyster color?

5) Knit a pair of socks in my size.

6) Knit a pair of house slippers.


7) Be a better player on this site.

8) Find someone who loves this hootin' sweater enough for me to make it for them, enough to wear it with pride and show it off exactly how it deserves to be shown. I love it, but I just can't see myself wearing it for some reason.


9) I want to organize my yarns, according to fiber, color, etc. in an open-front-open-back divided shelf like this one:


10) Figure out how the heck to make this bag for a few special ladies before 6 weeks have passed. Any help here?!?!!??

Finally!

Yesterday all I did was whine and moan and groan and complain about having to go into work. I HATE working on Saturdays and Sundays! Luckily, there was a little surprise payoff for going in from 3-11 last night - Cynthia brought in the baby!!!

This was the first time I got to meet Lilly outside her momma's tummy, so I was very excited to see those tiny feet and that fuzzy little head! She was asleep when they first came in, and because I was working with a small line of customers, Patty (the studio manager) got to her before I could. But when I could finish with the customers I ran out to the MINI and grabbed the little purple baby blanket I worked so lovingly on for soooo. looooong! I have been driving around with it since Lilly was born, hoping I would be in the pottery studio just once when Cynthia stopped by with her. And this time, I was!

So I brought the baby blanket back in from the car and Patty had put Lilly back into her stroller because she had to work with some customers. It was my turn to get a picture with Lilly, and validate the blanket that I had knitted. Woohoo!!!

No worries, Katie and Saunders, I was not accosted by this tiny baby girl. No groping, no latching on, no attempts at suckling anything! All this baby wanted to do once I picked her up was cry. And cry, and cry, and cry. "Cynthia, she hates me," I whined. "No she doesn't, she's just cranky. Here, give her the bottle." Gave her the bottle and all she would do is spit it out and scream some more. Gave the baby back to Cynthia and grabbed the blanket. I was going to get a picture of this baby in this blanket no matter what! "Okay, Cynthia, I'm ready for her again. Here's my phone. Get a shot quick!" Cynthia gave me Lilly again and grabbed for the camera phone. I wrapped the blanket around Lilly the best I could and caught eyes with a customer in the back of the store, who was staring at me, an awkward employee holding a screaming baby. "Look at me! I'm holding a screaming Mexican baby!" For some reason, it was a funny comment. Who cares if she's Mexican? She's screaming! Make it all stop! Cynthia quickly got a picture through her own laughs at my comment and soon had to be on her way back home.


What a little grumpy pants! It was nice to finally get to meet Lilly, no matter how much she hated me at the time. Congratulations again, Mommy Cynthia!

My very first blocking experience

Well, it's official: Desert Rose is finished! The waist - which I mentioned before - was a bit snug, and has been let out about 2 inches and works perfectly now. The neckline has been finished with a short ribbed pattern to match the sleeves and waistline.

To 100% finish a knitted piece of work, I have taught myself by watching some fantastic videos on YouTube. I learned how to knit in the round (a tube-shaped piece by using either two needles connected by a plastic wire, or using three or more needles with points on both sides), and I have learned how to make multiple other stitches in order to knit just about any lace pattern I could come across. The very last step to knitting anything is often skipped - as I have done on every scarf I ever made. Blocking, which I mentioned here, includes two steps - a light wash, and a stretching dry.

Here, I am washing the sweater in warm water with Vespa's lavender-scented pup shampoo. It's very mild, basically like a baby shampoo, so I figured this should work as well as those expensive soaps made specifically for the blocking process. Look at the water! It turned a funky plum color as I washed the sweater. I was expecting a small amount of color to leak from the yarn, but not this much!




Finally, after gently squeezing as much water from the sweater as I could without wringing (and misshaping) it, I laid an old blanket on the mattress in our guest bedroom to keep the mattress from turning purple or pink and began the backache of stretching and pinning the sweater, all the way around. One pin for every inch. Whew! It seemed to take forever. It stays here until the sweater is completely dry.



Blocking teaches the fibers to cling to each other, wrap around each other, and hold their shape much better than they would otherwise, so I'm happy to do this each time the sweater is washed to ensure a long and happy life. Hopefully Desert Rose will be dry by tomorrow and I will be able to model her for you!

A birthday (and getting started on my Toula)

Carlton's 26th birthday was two days ago, on Friday. Since we're trying to save up all the spare moo-lah we can for our spectacular upcoming European Cruise Sensation, we kept the birthday boy's spending pretty modest this year.

We started off the day with a trip to Mesa (about 25 minutes each way) for a delicious and indulgent breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Carlton ordered some biscuits and sausage, scrambled eggs, and hash browns. Oh, and a pancake, because he wanted "dessert." I ordered the Old Timer's Breakfast, with biscuits and gravy, grits, eggs, bacon, and hash brown casserole. Needless to say, we were full as ticks! Of course nobody can finish that much food, but we ordered it anyway and enjoyed every bite we could eat.

Once we got home, all I wanted to do was get started on my next knitting project. That's right! I FINALLY got finished with the baby blanket. Wow, that thing was starting to take a little bit of my soul each day that it endured its unfinishedness. I started wondering if I had actually started knitting my very own black hole, because after about midway through, it never really seemed to grow anymore. Well, I also FINALLY got to get started on my previously-announced next project, the tulip cardigan. Knitting is sweet again.

Since we had made plans for later in the evening, we opted to take the afternoon to just hang out (and digest our breakfast). It was a gorgeous day outside - about 80 degrees and clear skies with a calm and cool breeze, and Vespa was out patrolling the yard. No birds DARE land on her lawn, lest they wish to gamble their very lives! (Oh, whatever. I spent plenty of time Friday afternoon studying her stalking and pouncing techniques, and let me tell ya, the only bird she'll ever have the chance of catching is a stupid quail.) So, yeah, back to the beautiful afternoon. It was so pretty outside that I brought my knitting along with me and sat in the shade on the patio and knitted while Carlton opted to sit in the sun on Puppa's outdoor bed and read a new magazine. What a nice afternoon.

Then later on that night we had tickets to The Comedy Spot in downtown Scottsdale and made sure we had enough time before our 8:00 show to have a nice bite to eat at Stax. I got the tiny little sloppy joes (sooooo good!), and Carlton enjoyed a turkey burger and a beef burger. As always, that was delicious. The comedy club was just a few blocks down, and we still got there early enough to get a great parking place NOT run by valets, and enjoyed the show which got over at 10:00.

{Since Carlton never really got a cake for this birthday (other than his pancake at breakfast), which I'm having horrible guilt over, I'm hoping to take him over to Sprinkles for a special treat this afternoon.}

Happy (late) Birthday Carlton!

Lilly is here!

Cynthia from AYW (work) went into labor yesterday! This means that I must, must, MUST finish this baby blanket I've been working on so diligently. I'm soooooo over this solid lavender color, and must say, I'll be glad to give this one as a little gift to the new mommy and baby girl! I'm considering even knitting a little knitted head wrap with a huge flower on it in some of the yarn remnants to coordinate with the blanket. That would definitely make for an adorable duo on a new baby girl, I must say! I'll hopefully get to see Cynthia and the new baby Lilly in a week or so.

This blanket, I feel, is the most boring and monotonous piece I've ever worked on, including all my simple scarves. It's just so... blah. Very useful for her, very blah for me to make.

Most of all, I have about 4 projects ready and rooooooarrrrrring to go!, but just can't seem to finish this blanket. And I've promised myself to finish the blanket before I indulge myself once more.

Just gotta push through these last few lines of K2, K2tog, YO, K2tog, K1, YO, K2tog, K to end of row, repeat. Oh, this got old soooooo long ago! My eyes have officially crossed. Permanently.

But Little Vespa seems to like it just fine.

Knitaholics Anonymous

I just found something by accident, by clicking through blog links, and I have no idea how I actually got to this page. But this thing that I found... I need it... so... desperately!

http://www.theknitkit.com/

The only setback is, it doesn't actually include any actual knitting needles. I remember back when I first learned to knit. I wanted to bring my knitting supplies onto the flight with me, but packed them in a checked bag because I didn't want to get to bagage check and have them confiscated (the needles were a souvenier from Paris and I wouldn't let them go without a fight!). Then once we boarded our flight, I turned to my right and saw an itty bitty granny just a-knitting away. Crap. After a short amount of online research, I just looked up all prohibited items TSA's website and it says Knitting needles are ooookay!!!

I've been wondering what in the world I'll keep myself entertained with on the flights to and from Venice in May, and this would be soooo perfect! Dang, I could get an entire project finished on the flights!

Yeah, I'm geekin'.

Tulip Cardigan

Desert Rose is currently 95% finished. The neckline needs a K2P1 border like the sleeves and waist already have, and the finished waist needs to be let out a bit... and I need to think for a while on how I can actually do that. Then comes the blocking, and voila! Desert Rose will be ready for the streets. I wore the sweater for about an hour last night and she was quite comfortable, I must say. I don't want to post any pictures yet, at least not until the neckline is finished and blocking begins.

Today after work I began shopping around for a new project, and found one that's perfect for me!

Tulip Cardigan, thanks to The Smith Island Pattern Factory:

She's my new muse. For some reason, I think this one should be named Toula the Tulip Cardigan. It reminds me of the sweet cardigans that Toula would wear in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, after she gave herself the make-over. It looks slightly second-hand store, slightly Urban Outfitters, totally handmade.

To keep this sweater more wearable around more of the seasons, I'm going to knit only 3/4 length sleeves instead of full-length, and I'm using a cotton yarn in lieu of wool. Lion Brand's Cotton Ease feels really nice and has an easy elasticity to it, which will be nice in the spring, or well, whenever, really. The main color will be the lime/kiwi green, around the shoulders will be cream, vines/hearts will be light/dark indigos, and the terracotta color will be the tulips. I'm glad that the colors are a little more muted and softer than the original pattern calls for - I don't think I've been in the mood for bright colors lately. Anyway, here's to a new sweet sweater!

Knitter, knitter, knit!

So, since I couldn't really get the baby blanket finished before Cynthia's baby shower, I have allowed myself to put it off for about a week... give myself a break from all that pastel purple (I never imagined I would speak such blasphemy)! I was really missing my sweet little puff-sleeve sweater and decided to give myself a week to work on it. Then it's back to the baby blanket until it's finished. But I just had to get in a few days of quality time with my pretty pink sweater! Been missin' her like whoa.

When I finished with the first skein, I decided that I would take a picture of my progress to help me measure how much finished material each skein gives me. Other than long, straight scarves, this is really my first project (not counting our Christmas stockings that weren't from an actual pattern), so I really have no idea how far one skein will get me. I've been knitting so much lately that Carlton's been calling out to me: "Knitter, knitter, knit!" It's become a "Just checkin' on you" call from computer desk to sofa, haha! Since I had today off work (woohoo!), all I wanted to do all day was knit. Little Miss Pink got plenty of attention, and grew quite a bit! This afternoon, it was time to start on skein #3. Here's my progress so far!

Here she is when I was just starting the second skein:

And how here she is as I cast on skein number 3:

I love how you can see the sleeves, and the repetitive leaf lace pattern totally makes sense now... and you can tell what the whole blob of knitted pink (well, it's more like a deep mauve) wool is! The pattern calls for ribbed trim around the collar and the ends of the sleeves after the entire sweater has been finished, so that will come later.

One last note: I've been really struggling with the real name of this sweater. The pattern's creators have named it "Rusted Root" but that's such an abrasive name for such a sweet top! I've been calling it "her" or "pink" or whatever I can to avoid the words "Rusted Root." I'm calling out for your help! What should I name the pattern, for my own emotion's sake? A lady's name? A plant? A few words put together that are more suitable than "Rusted Root?" I'd love your suggestions, cause I've got nothing!

She's coming soon....

Tonight I went into work after the store closed to celebrate with fellow employees the upcoming birth of Lilly Valle (pronounced "Vayeh"). I work with Cynthia, the mommy-to-be. Actually, I started right when she did, and so I have been able to watch that tummy grow... and boy oh boy, has it grown! She's the super skinny, tall type, who looks totally normal walking away from you... but as soon as she turns around, your eyes pretty much pop outta your head... WHOA! It's like she's got a basketball up her shirt!

We started off with a few games including "Guess How Many Squares" where we each had to guess how many toilet paper squares it would take to wrap around her tummy. She was so embarrassed! A couple other games followed, and then came gifts and cake. Only three AYW employees showed up other than Cynthia, which was a bummer. I was saddened that there wasn't more rallying around and celebration for Cynthia and the baby! There were lots of family and friends who came, though, and in all there were about 20 people at the shower.

Yesterday I found out that Cynthia had actually purchased all the decorations, plates, cups, and silverware for the shower, and on top of all that, she was making the cake for it, too! I was absolutely appalled and refused to let her make a cake to bring to her own baby shower. She finally gave in and requested a funfetti cake with purple icing, and that's what she got!





The baby blanket I have developed "knitter's pinky" over didn't get finished in time (imagine that, I didn't get a project finished in time for something important!), but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise that I wrapped some onesies, a dress, newborn hair accessories, and sunglasses (gotta have those in the AZ!) from Target. Patty, our store manager, crocheted a blanket, some booties, and a sweater. Sabrina, the other AYW employee who came, gave a fleece blanket. And one or two other blankets were given... I couldn't tell if the of them was a towel or a blanket. So one more blanket could have pushed her over the edge of blanket-opening! Plus, the baby kicked Cynthia when she took the sunglasses out of the box, so she must've liked them.

Bountiful booty:

The little dress with matching leggings I got her: