You Learn Something New Every Day

I woke up this morning and decided that today was the day that I mastered the Twisted German Cast-on. And after a multitude of videos (I like the one from Utube best), I learned how to do it. From what I understand, the advantage of this cast-on is that it is stretchier than the long-tail. I cast on the baby hat with it and I have to say that I like it. It's not going to take over for all my cast-on needs, but for those cases (like socks, baby hats, or mittens) that you need a stretchy cast-on, this is the one I might go with.

The hat was out of the Knitpicks Shine Sport (just like the pants). It's just a simple CO 64 stitches on a size 6 circ. (12inches long). Knit in 1x1 rib until you get tired of it. Knit until the whole thing measures 4.5 inches. For the first decrease round: SSK, k7 across. K 1 round. SSK, K6 across. K 1 round. Continue this until you SSK across the whole round. Weave tails back through the leftover stitches. Weave in ends and you have a cute matching baby hat.

This might become my standard baby shower present. It takes less time than a blanket. You could add a matching baby kimono (Think Mason Dixon) if you really like the person. It's somewhat unique. And the price is right. I made the whole set, with a good bit of yarn left over, for around $7.50. That's right in my teacher budget. Plus, the yarn comes in 20 different colors. That's a rainbow of babies.

I'm off to get to work on my second pair of baby pants, or maybe finish up a pair of socks.

Put a done stamp on it.

I'm out of Sock Madness, but I have a cute pair of baby pants. These are the Knitpicks Shine pair. The worked up like a dream. I even managed the elastic with few problems. Godson tried them on this morning, but we had him in a bulky diaper cover and they didn't fit so well. I'm hoping if we put him in a lightweight diaper cover, that they'll fit. If not, Rae is going to receive a pack of Pampers for him to wear with the pants. That won't be a problem with the other baby, she's going to be a disposable diaper kid. This might be the one time that I'm not a fan of the cloth diaper.
Pattern: Baby Pants from the Blue Blog.
Needles: Size 6 Clover Circs.
Alterations: An extra 2 rows on the butt part in attempt to fit over cloth diapers (not successfully, need to add 6 more rows.)
Comments: Love the pattern, a super cute knit. Order 3 balls of the Shine Sport (I needed 2 for the pants, and a wee but of the 3rd for the drawstring).
Next up on the knit list:

1. Other baby pants
2. Baby Hat
3. Baby Bib
4. Julie's Socks for her Birthday (Next Sunday)
5. Rae's socks (almost done)
6. Martha-Claire's socks
7. Hogwarts Sock Swap Socks
8. Grandma's Socks

My name is Laura and I am obsessed with knitting baby pants

I have a confession. In the downtime from Sock Madness, I have not knit a single sock. Instead, I am obsessed with knitting wee baby pants. I've been using this pattern and have been going to town. I started the first pair out of Knitpicks Shine Sport in the Green Apple (which is much more pretty in person and so soft). I've finished the first leg and am almost done with the second. I would like to finish those by Saturday, so that Godson can wear them here. The second pair is knit out of Classic Elite Premiere in the Bleached Orchid. I have one leg done. Although the baby in question has not been born, her mother's shower was last week and I owe her a present (or 2). I'm thinking baby pants and a hat should cover it. I got some cute Bunny Hop (It would prob. be easier to list the colors that I didn't get than the ones I got) to make the hat out of and a hat for every other baby that might come along in the next couple of years (I love that stuff, it's the knitting crack for baby stuff). Speaking of knitting crack, Sheri is now selling Kidsilk Crack Haze and tons of other lace stuff.
On that note, I'm off to knit some baby pants before somebody schedules an intervention.

Sock Madness is sucking up my soul

Or it's just taking up all my free time. I haven't read a book in over a week. That by itself is crazy (I usually read 4-7 a week, I read fast). What about Sock Madness has been keeping me so busy, you may ask? How about these:

It actually took me almost a week knitting non-stop to make these socks. They are the only Sock Madness socks that I have made for me (doing so has put me even further behind on my gift knitting but I don't care).. Imagine the seagulls from Finding Nemo. These socks are "Mine!" In other news, I am being a horrible giver of gifts to assorted friends and giver of time to other friends. I'm hoping that Kristi will kick my arse in the next round within 24 hours so that I can get on with my life. Did I mention that I'm in the Elite 8 of Sock Madness? That by itself is crazy. It's all because Momma is a rock star (I said that at work today and one of my eighth graders said, "Don't you mean a sock star?") She really is the best person and I am so fortunate to have met her. That's what was really neat about this round of Sock Madness. I really got to know people. I guess that makes all the craziness worth it.

Going with a Harry Potter Theme

You scored as Sirius Black. You are the most loyal friend anyone could ask for because you'd go to any length to ensure their safety and happiness. You're free-spirited and very difficult to confine to a caged life. You love being in the company of those you love and love to show them how much they mean to you. You loathe those who only live for self-gain and show disloyalty. You're a great person but sometimes its needed of you to think more rationally than being quick to jump into things. Sirius Black 72% Harry Potter 63% Luna Lovegood 63% Hermione Granger 59% Oliver Wood 53% Albus Dumbledore 50% Severus Snape 50% Neville Longbottom 44% Lord Voldemort 44% Remus Lupin 44% Bellatrix Lestrange 41% Ron Weasley 34% Draco Malfoy 34% Percy Weasley 25% Harry Potter Character Combatibility Test created with QuizFarm.com

Harry Potter Sock Swap

This is my first sock swap. I've heard so many good things about sock swaps and I can't wait to get started!

Hogwarts Sock Swap Questionnaire

1. What Hogwarts house have you been sorted into? Ravenclaw

2. Shoe size? Size 10 in the US and 42 in European (or whatever Birkenstocks are sold in)

3. Foot Length? Just short of 10 inches

4. Foot Circumference? 9.5 inches

5. List your three favorite double-point needle brands, including size and length.
I don't know. I just started knitting socks on dpns in the last few months. I know that I don't like Pony and I prefer a short length like 5.5 inches. I like sizes 1 or 1.5. Why don't we go with one of your favorites so I can try them out? I'm always looking for some new tools
6. Would you like to try a new brand needle? If so, which brand? Size? Length?
See above so that I'm not incredibly redundant
7. If you are a RAVENCLAW, do you prefer the colors in the film or the book? Do you have a strong preference?
Let's see...(flips through 1st book because although I know blue is involved, I can't remember exactly) Okay, the book is blue and brown and the movie is blue and gray. I'm more of a gray person than a brown person. But I don't have a strong preference either way.
8. Are you willing to have an international Hogwarts Sock Pal?

Yup!

Sweet Sixteen

It turns out that I'm in the "sweet sixteen" of Sock Madness. I'm not quite sure how that happened (I'm thinking refusing to sleep until I finished my second sock had something to do with it). I also think that when I hate something about the socks, I tend to knit faster in an effort to get them done.

I knew from the get go that this was not my kind of pattern. I'm just not a cuff kind-of girl. I think of these as elf or jester socks (and Nikki agrees so its just not me), not for the t-shirt and jeans crowd to wear (when I'm not at work, I love in t-shirts and jeans and plain vanilla hard-knit socks). So like the two previous rounds, these socks are going to mom. I'm thinking of saving these for her Birthday and the Mad Cows for Mother's day (she's already snatched the Madtinis, which were supposed to be for me but were a bit too tight for my large ankles).

I'm not sure what the next round will contain. We have 2 skeins of unvariegated yarn, 1 skein of variegated, and a color work combo still left in the Sock Madness stash. All I know is that I'm hoping for a long break in between these rounds and a weekend release on the next pattern.

I am getting sick of knitting socks and will not cast-on any more until I finish what I have on needles. I also need to start knitting up all the awesome sock kits, I've been getting. The yarn stash is getting out of control again and I might need to knit just from the stash (with some designing exemptions) for the next few months. I'm literally out of space and the number of projects I'm working on has gotten out of hand. Here's the new plan: I can not buy (with money, not credit) any more yarn until I use up at least 6 skeins of yarn and finish 2 projects (socks only count as 1 project). This might keep me to buying yarn only once every 2 weeks. I'm going to add that I can only buy enough yarn for one project at a time although the "allowance" might be pooled to allow for some mass buying to get free shipping and other cool stuff (Webs has a sale going on now that you must meet a $25 min. for). That is all, carry on.

Spring in Mississippi

Spring is here in Mississippi and I have some pretties to show off. There's a rose theme here. It seems everything I have to blog about is rose related.

The socks are ones that I finished back in August of last year, but I had never woven in the ends or blocked them. When I was SOAKing my Madtini socks the other day, I figured I could throw these in, too. So now they are blocked and here are some specifics:

Pattern: Toe up sock pattern with a short row heel on 2 circs (2 socks at the same time). The standard same old, same old.

Yarn: Fortissima Colori Disco in the pink multi. You can buy it here. I like the colors of the yarn (The metallic thread of silver is pretty cool), but this is not a soft yarn.

Needles: Size 2 circulars (this was in a time before I had braved to go down to size 1s).

Details: I knit these socks while we were on the family reunion last year. They traveled to 7 different yarn stores between Philadelphia and Mississippi. They kept me sane. This year, I'm going to pack more knitting.

On a totally different note, I got some more sock yarn at my LYS, Friday. They remind me of roses, too. I'm going to start a sock out of these tonight, if I can get the Glaciers done in the mean time. The yarn is Luna Park by Punto Su Punto Filati. This is color #205. It was by far, my favorite color that I've seen out of this yarn so far. I just found some other colors here. When I googled it, it seemed that the majority of stores stocking it were in TN and MS. Hmmmm... Intriguing. Anyway, It's 210 yards per ball of 100% merino wool. It says machine washable on the label (I'm thinking "no" on that, but time will tell). Who knew this yarn would give me so much to ponder. I'm off to knit!