Archive for April, 2008
Sanpoku
Saturday, April 12th, 2008
Hey-HEY-hey!
It’s a Finished Object!
Sanpoku is the reverse-mullet of sweaters!
Shrug in the back, sweater in the front!
Pattern: Sanpoku by Norah Gaughan for Berroco
Yarn: Berroco Comfort
Needle: US 9
Note: I knit the largest size, substituted Comfort for the recommended yarn, and went up a needle size.
Posted in Patterns | 1 Comment »
Mazie’s 3 months old today!
Friday, April 11th, 2008
And so serious!
She knows how to smile now, but something has to be reeeeeEEEEeeeally good to get one.
I’m wearing my Sunset Cardigan Experiment, made from the yarn I dyed back on October. I’m really really happy with how it came out. It looks awesome with my new empire-waist summer dresses. I made it that length and with that lower body flare-out so that I could wear it while I was still pregnant. It’s great in that I *did* wear it back then, but I don’t feel like it’s “Maternity” now.
…aside…I’ve got to go through my closet and put all my maternity stuff in a Rubbermaid to go in the garage. I’d put it on eBay, except that I’m *hoping* to have another baby before TOO long and that stuff is expen$ive. If there’s one demographic that pays a LOT for EVERYTHING it’s pregnant people. Anyway…I’m leaving this sweater out, because I still love it and wear it quite a lot.
So the YARN. I bought a 1 kg cone of Blue Faced Leicester to make baby soakers out of but liked it too much to use it to soak up urine. It works out to about $37 / lb if you buy it that way. BFL is so soft and really has a great sheen. It’s a long staple yarn, so won’t pill as easily as Merino, say. It takes dye really nicely, too.
ANYWAY…
I dyed it myself in the crock pot using cake dye. All 4 little skeins that I did are slightly different, so I designed the sweater in sections so that the color diffs wouldn’t be so obvious. If I re-did it, the only thing I’d change would be to do the button bands on a smaller needle. They’re a little wavy, but good enough for “just me.”
I started a sweater out of the green/purple stuff, but it’s not done yet. Just knitting it in my “spare” (ha ha) time.
Posted in yarn reviews, Patterns, baby | 4 Comments »
Charity Knitting
Friday, April 11th, 2008
One thing I haven’t done much of is charity knitting.
Recently, though, a great one has come to my attention.
It’s the Oxfam Blanket for Maternal Mortality. They’re collecting 9″ squares. For me, that’s a great thing…I can send in small bits of knitting and not feel overwhelmed by knitting an entire garment or shawl by myself. And every little square is a big help to the project. Hey…if I make all of my swatches 9″…I help two birds with one stone.
Here’s the press release:
Oxfam calls on knitting activists to demonstrate some purling power
Oxfam is calling on all knitters in the UK to (purl together and) support a new campaign to help reduce the numbers of women who die needlessly every year in pregnancy and childbirth. Millions of mums in poor countries get low-quality health care or are forced to go though pregnancy and childbirth without it altogether, meaning that, every minute, a mother dies because she doesn’t have access to the medical care she needs.
The campaign is being launched in partnership with the parenting website mumsnet.com and knitters will be asked to make 9-inch squares for a giant baby blanket, with each knitted square representing a mother who did not survive pregnancy or childbirth to be able to care for her baby.
Mumsnet founder Carrie Longton said: ‘It seems astonishing that in the 21st century mothers are still dying through lack of basic healthcare. Mumsnet are delighted to be working with Oxfam to raise awareness of this desparate situation and Mumsnetters are busy knitting already.
The aim is to get 250,000 squares by September, the number of mothers who could have been saved in that time if decent healthcare had been available.
Oxfam Leeds Campaigner Sarah Blakemore said: ‘Most knitters love to make beautiful things to show others they care, this campaign is about showing how much people in the UK care about the lives and health of mums and babies around the world. It’s a message to tell world leaders they must act to provide decent healthcare for all’
The giant blanket will be handed over to the UK Government just before world leaders meet in New York to discuss progress on the Millennium Development Goals, aimed at halving world poverty by 2015. It will represent a demand to global leaders to act now to ensure that everyone in the world has access to free basic healthcare
After the giant blanket has been handed in, it will be dismantled and sold in Oxfam shops and at festivals, with the money raised going towards Oxfam’s work to fight poverty.
To join a group of knitting Mumsnetters locally, click here http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/2280/499651
Send completed squares to Oxfam Campaigns, 47 Park Square East, Leeds, LS21 2NL
(Here’s the group on Ravelry: oxfam-blanket-for-maternal-mortality)
Posted in gift knitting | No Comments »
MagKnits patterns
Thursday, April 10th, 2008
ubernatural.pdf
paris-loop.pdf
coldshoulder_pattern.pdf
Well…MagKnits is no longer. I’m not here to post an opinion about the closing of the site, but just want to let you know that I’ve moved my patterns over to my house and you can still get them if you want them.
I’ll make it so that if you go to my “free stuff” page, you can just DL the patterns from there.
Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
KITH stuff-that-I-bought
Wednesday, April 9th, 2008
Well…I had to break down and look for short row heel instructions. I found these by misocrafty (aided by Yahaira’s photos) and so far so good. I was trying to do the short rows every-other round, with a whole knit round in between, and I could tell it was *almost* right…
SO. Here’s my KITH Vendor Market haul…
There’s a t-shirt from MisKnits, the hugest single hank of yarn I’ve ever seen from Bonkers, the two light purple hanks are Textiles a Mano, there are two orangey-copper thick-and-thin hanks from Two Windows, several Evil Duckie DPN keepers from Wants and Kneeds, several sets of Girley Purls stitch markers, a Girley Purls bag, some Happy Feet, and a hank of Dome Hill Yarns sock yarn…and a couple of HiyaHiya 9″ circs and an addi lace needle that I bought from The Studio for my SOCKS.
Posted in just chit chat | No Comments »
Knitting in the Heartland…the short version
Monday, April 7th, 2008
I’m back home, feeling totally inspired and maybe even a little bit gung ho, and knitting SOCKS! We JUST stepped through the door and I had to sit down and write about my weekend before I sit down to knit and review Glam Knits.
FIRST…let me tell you that the Sunflower Knitters Guild can organize a
convention! Everything was so wonderfully put together. Events ran on schedule, people and things were where they were supposed to be when they were supposed to be there…and if not…someone made sure that that changed QUICKLY. And the vendor market was EXCELLENT. I went over budget by a healthy 50%. So much variety and lots of things that I’d heard of but hadn’t seen in person before.
Oh! And I started knitting a pair of SOCKS (in happy-feet!) How long since I’ve knit socks? The last pair I finished was probably 2003. Seriously. I’m knitting them toe up with a short-row heel. And so far, I’m not using any instructions, just trying to knit from memory…we’ll see how that goes when I get to the heel!
I’m SO glad that I was invited to go!!
(This is Jo. We’ve known each other online for a LONG time and FINALLY got to meet this weekend. Well, this is Jo after several very hectic days and a few nights of no sleep!)
On Friday, Jo and Teri met Me, Mom and Mazie at the airport. They were nice enough to take us all the way to the hotel to hand Mazie off to her eagerly awaiting Japel grandparents (who had decided that we were just too close to them in Sioux City not to drive down and visit us) before taking us to the cutest and best-stocked yarn shop I’ve seen in a WHILE. Amber has done a really great thing in opening Miskints! I picked up a couple hanks of Happy Feet ( colorway 8 ) and a T-shirt (that I’m wearing right now!)
We went to dinner with most of the organizing committee (Me, Mom, Jo, Teri, Jo, Sandra) at Blue Koi. I got the shrimp with Chinese Curry…YUM. After that, it was back to the hotel to hang out with M&M (Marv and Mary) a while, knit, and get ready for Saturday.
I taught “Fitted Knits Techniques” first and “Airy Wrap” second. We figured out how to custom size the airy wrap for these who are in-between sizes. It was such a genuine pleasure to teach these knitters! I’m STILL in awe as to how knowledgeable they are and REALLY in awe as to how gung ho they are! They were such a treat!
Saturday night, we went to dinner with 20 KC area knitters! How cool is THAT!? There were bacon jokes, tales of *another* (more famous) teen-author-Stefanie, and some truly crazy camping stories. Did you know that you can send all the ticks to the other end of the campground by letting off a bug bomb outside? Did you know that the older girl scouts know how to catch rabbits and prepare them to eat?? Or that major purchases by husbands justify the purchase of MORE YARN? I don’t hang out with enough knitters.
On Sunday, “Drop Stitch Tank” class went really well. The last time I taught that, we spent like an hour and a half getting our swatches under control…but these ladies just came in with their perfect swatches and went to town. We custom-fit everyone’s DSTs! The second class “Converting Flat Patterns to Circular” didn’t start out as smoothly as I would have liked. Advice: don’t put your most math-intensive class LAST on a big weekend! The Sunflowers were so awesome, though, that it ended up warm and fuzzy.
After class, the girls (Jo, Gwen, Carmen, Teri, Christine, Jo) invited me out to dinner to recap the weekend and give ourselves small backpats and hugs and a little bit of mutual admiration over a job well done.
(Photo courtesy of me…stealing it from Gwen!…Jo and Jo are missing…Teri, Carmen, me, and Gwen are all there.)
If you’re in the area next time…or if they ask you to teach, GO!
(I’ll get pics of my haul tomorrow in the daylight!)
Posted in Trips, events, press | 5 Comments »
Goin to Kansas City…Kansas City Here We Come
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008
I’m goin’ to Kansas City, Kansas City, here I come
Yes, goin’ to Kansas City, Kansas City, here I come
They got a crazy way a-knittin’ an’ a I wanna get me some
I was standing on the corner, of 12th Street and Vine
Yeah, standing on the corner, of 12th Street and Vine
With my Kansas City woman in a sweater knit so fine
Well I might take a plane, I might take a train
If I have to walk, I’m going there just the same
I’m going to, Kansas City, Kansas City, here I come
They got a crazy way a-knittin’ an I wanna get me some
Oh yeah
If you woulda bought the pattern, could belong to you
If you come to Knitting in the Heartland, could belong to you
It’s mine all mine, no matter what I do
Well I might take a plane, I might take a train
If I have to walk, I’m goin’ there just the same
I’m goin’ to Kansas City, Kansas City, here I come
They got a crazy way a-knittin’ an I wanna get me some
They got a crazy way a-knittin’ an I wanna get me some
They got a crazy way a-knittin’ an I wanna get me some!
Yeah!
Actual, non-butchered lyrics here. Sorry, Al.
Yep. We’re packed! We’re ready to go! We leave the house at 8 tomorrow am and get in at around 4 K.C. time. The gracious Jo and Teri are picking us up from the airport and wisking us off to meet up with the rest of the committee at misknits, and then we’re all going to dinner. (I’m already planning my dinner order!) 
This is going to be SO much fun! I haven’t had a total immersion knitting weekend in a WHILE.
I’ve been really working hard this week to prepare…and today I also judged a sort of science fair for grad students. I had to be there at 10. I had planned to get up with Nate when he left this morning, but I had loaned my alarm clock to our houseguests. Fortunately, Mom came over to watch Maize at 9:30, so I was at least able to jump up, comb my hair, and get there in time.
She had to wake me up when she got here! I woke up from the deepest sleep seeing my mother standing over me…saying, “Stef, it’s time to get up.” It was so surreal. I thought I was back in junior high! I had no idea what was going on at ALL. Very Weird way to start the day.
After the science fair, they picked me up and we went to lunch and then we had to go to the store to buy diapers. I’m not sure how to manage 4 days’ worth of dirty cloth diapers on the road. No washer / dryer…I don’t even have enough diapers to GO 4 days. It took me a long time to pick out a package. Of course I forgot to go to the health food store and get the 7th Generation ones, so I had to get Huggies. It so long to decide because I’m not even sure how many we’ll need. Also…some say “Jumbo” on the pack, and I wasn’t sure if that meant like Jumbo PACK, or Jumbo THICK…like maxi pads vs mini pads? I ended up with something Jumbo for Sensitive Skin. We’ll see.
Another dumb thing is that my publisher is providing 50 copies of Fitted Knits for me to give away at the convention, and I had them sent HERE. SO. I’m trying to fit 75 pounds of books in my luggage. I had every one of our suitcases open at one point, trying to decide what combination of pounds of books in which of the suitcases made the most sense. I still don’t know if I’m making optimal use of luggage space per pound of book.
Posted in events | 1 Comment »
Practice Saturday!
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008
Woah…I started this on Saturday and am just getting a chance to post it! AND…Edited to ADD…my friend Marjorie ran a marathon and we got to see her cross the finish line!
She ran the Battan Memorial Death March Marathon and finished in the top 10% of her division! Go Marjorie!
So LAST weekend, we got together to wind yarn, and THIS weekend, my fearless Knitting Group is getting together to test out my FOUR Knitting in the Heartland classes. A brave bunch of ladies, no?
I want to make sure that all the questions are answered, and the handouts and examples are just perfect.
I’m really looking forward to next weekend! Mom and Mazie are both coming with me, and the Japel grandparents are meeting us there…so if you’re going, you’ll likely meet our whole posse at some point! (Except Nate, who’s going to be enjoying a quiet weekend in his painting studio!)
Miss Mazie has had a great last few nights. She’s starting to handle her farts better. For a while there, every time she farted, she would scream. Now she’s starting to realize that it’s just a part of life. Poor baby. She still has a hard time transitioning into the sleep zone, but we’re working on it.
We’ve also been trying to head the crying off at the pass by making sure we go for looooooong evening walks. Last night, we went out at 6:30 and stayed out until about 9. We stopped for dinner halfway, and just walked and walked and she forgot that she usually has a big fit right then. I was the same way. I guess I still am. I love to stay up late and sleep in. Or, I *used* to…now I’ll go to sleep any chance I get!
Oh Man, the other day Nate asked me, “Are you nervous about traveling with her?” At first I thought he meant Mom…then I realized…I’m taking a 2.5 month old baby on a plane. On FOUR planes. Eek.