Knittymama

I haven’t just been knitting for baby. On the way to the wedding a couple of weeks ago, I finished this:

It’s the Mason-Dixon Scribble Scarf, and I have to say it’s a nice quick knit, especially when you want something cute to go with the plain old black maternity dress you just had to buy.

Sorry for the lack of real life modeling shots. It did look cute with the dress. As you can see, it’s shorter than a scarf, I guess it’s more of a stole. I just kept knitting on the drive down and cast off when we got to the hotel. The yarn is Crystal Palace laceweight mohair and some sort of rayon novelty yarn from Knit One Crochet Two. As usual, the labels are lost.

I’ll be back with more soakers in a couple of days. I also purchased a diaper pattern, so we’ll see what I manage to sew up.

To be honest, I’m amazed I can manage to read and understand a pattern these days. I can’t believe what major baby brain I have this time. The other day I actually melted our camera. Lucky for me it still works, especially after all that work the Skeptic put into fixing it the last time I broke it. Little Man had swiped it, and I took it and hid it in what brilliant place? The top of our toaster over. Then I heated up some rolls in it for ten minutes. Yeah, I’m totally on top of things!

Chicago was fun, but wore me out! I did make it to Loopy Yarns and Nina and had a nice visit at both shops. I picked up some BFL Fleece Artist to make some longies for Knittykid and a skein of Malabrigo silk and merino to make a cowl for myself.

I promised more FO’s to show off, and I’ve got a heap of soakers that I’ve finished up.

The first two are all the Curly Purly pattern. I like this pattern for babies who are not on their toes yet. It relies on just ribbing to keep them up, so once you have a toddler they may fall down. But for newborns, you couldn’t have an easier pattern!

This first one is Knitpicks Wool of the Andes.

This next one is Blackberry Ridge Kaleidoscope in Firecracker.  So nice and soft!

The next one isn’t finished but the trim is in what I think is a Cascade wool/llama blend (very soft) and the dark brown is a Classic Elite tweed.

Lastly, this one is a small size using the Little Turtle Knits  Undersoaker pattern. See that bulge under the waistband? Yup, I messed up the elastic and have to go back and fix it. Bummer. But the yarn is to die for! It was dyed by Lia over at Fruity Sheep and is a super soft Peruvian. Very nice!

Believe it or not, I’ve got more FO’s but I promised myself I’d kick myself off the computer by 10:00. Don’t want to overwhelm you all anyway!

Wow, the last two weeks have been a whirlwind! I actually have a ton of FO’s to show you, but not any time to post them all. Here’s a little sneak of the BSJ:

Any button suggestions?

A colorway closeup. It’s the Knitpicks fingering dyed by me with onion skin and tumeric.

I’m off to Chicago this weekend for a conference. A trip like this always gives me mixed feelings. It’s three nights by myself in a swanky hotel without the boys. Just like Toronto, I’m sure I’ll love it the first night and be ready to come home already the second.

Any Chicago travel suggestions for me? The conference is out by O’Hare, but I guess there is a train station close by. Remember, you’re talking to a 27 week pregnant lady who has to rely on public transport and hasn’t been to Chicago since she was 18. I’m looking for good yarn, good food, easy to get to!

Yeah, I’m still not to #5. I did get to bed though….

It’s been a week of absolute craziness and extreme pregnancy aches and pains, but I’m happy to report that this music teacher is DONE for the summer. Detailed pictorial update as soon as I get through this crazy weekend!

1. Seam up BSJ

2. Block the bonnet

3. Add elastic to soaker #1

4. Finish up soaker #2

5. Spin a bit of Spinner’s Web

6. Go to bed by midnight.

It’s 8:43. I made these plans an hour ago but go distracted by catching up on blogs. I don’t think this is all going to happen….

For my niece’s third birthday:

Despite the fact that I sewed the ruffle on the top of the pants rather than the bottom (eek!) I was able to recover by cutting them off, and reattaching them with a ribbon to cover the edging. Nice recovery, huh?

(blurry again, drat!)

I cast on for two soakers this weekend. I neglected sewing up the Baby Surprise because of it, not that it is much sewing anyway. I predict a finishing night this week if I can get motivated.

(There is yarn content in here, I promise!!!)

I’m going to admit that my online attention has been elsewhere. I’ve barely read more than a handful of blogs in the last two weeks and rarely left a comment. And for what? My latest obsession, not yarn or fiber (although that’s always an obsession), but diapers.

A few of you will be in the know about this, but most of you will be thinking, “diapers?” How much time can a girl spend obsessing about diapers? Let me tell you, LOTS of time.

Because there is a lovely place called Hyenacart. Sort of like Etsy, but aimed more at families/natural living. There are gorgeous, gorgeous cloth diapers here. And while the Fuzzi Bunz and prefolds have served me well for the boys, they are old and worn and it’s time to step it up. This kid is getting handmade fitteds, such as my cute red monkey diaper I found this weekend.

The thing is, diaper shopping is as much work as yarn shopping when it comes to small, indie sellers. You basically need to stalk the sites and grab them when you have the chance. Plus, I’m trying to stick to some sort of budget. After all, cloth diapers are supposed to be saving me money, not break the bank. So I’ve been looking for a few nice splurges as well as the more budget friendly sellers as well. But wow, there is so much to choose from  (if I can only get to them first!)

And of course, this is not just a post about buying diapers. This is a blog about making things, and that includes diapers. So I’m also obsessing about sewing diapers and of course, knitting soakers. (See, there is knitting in here!!) But I’ve never sewn a diaper, and it’s been two years since I’ve made a soaker, so I’m out of the loop. There are patterns to look at and yarn to obsess about. Amazingly, my stash is not very full of good soaker yarn, and this is the best part I have to share with all of YOU knitters out there.

You see, I thought I was pretty up on my internet yarn sources. I’ve haunted Etsy and most of the smaller yarn sellers online, so I was sure I’d seen it all.  Nope. Because in all my soaker research/Hyenacart shopping, I’ve made a discovery. There is more yarn out there. Yarn I’ve never even heard of, dyers I’ve never run across, all that seem to lurk within the cloth diaper circuit. And this is nice stuff, beautiful colors, interesting yarns. A lot of very specific wools out there that would be nice for more than soakers. Lots of BFL, targhee, organic, rambouillet, handspun….a lot of beautiful yarn.

Want a peak? Go here. And here. Also here. And to see all of it, here. And don’t forget Spot’s Corner, where you can see who is selling off their stash (and you could sell yours!).

So hopefully, in exchange for some new yarn shopping for all of you, you’ll forgive my little blog-reading hiatus here. I promise I’ll be lurking around again soon, as soon as I’ve spent all my money

So no critters in the grass box (yet!). So far the table has also become a desk for his research. I’m digging having this little Scientist in the family.

Speaking of Little Man….. (I kind of like the Scientist, hmmm…..he’s been growing out of his nickname lately too since he’s so darn big!) Anyway, I was putting Knittykid down for his nap yesterday when all of a sudden I hear Little Man screaming at the top of his lungs, “Hey you, stop that!!! You stop that right now! STOOOOPP ITTTT!!!!”

Now this is a kid who’s known to freak out at construction workers for making too much noise, or yell at the landscapers next door because they were cutting down the vines, so I wasn’t too worried. But I did hightail it to the window to see what the offense was.

The offender? Some poor woman spraying weed killer all over the neighbors lawn. As I looked out she was nervously placing the Do not walk on the grass or you and you loved ones will suffer from all sorts of nasty diseases sign (yeah, I’m biased. I hate that junk, especially when it’s being sprayed ten feet from my kid). Apparently I’ve over educated Little Man on the evils of all non-organic lawn care. We had to have a little talk about it, explaining that yes, weed killer is bad for people, bad for the planet, but screaming at strangers will not help solve the problem and is generally considered bad manners.

So in Little Man’s honor, here is a link to our favorite organic lawn care stuff, just in case you are now wondering a bit more about it: Gardens Alive. Which reminds me, I need to place an order!

Since Fridays are technically supposed to be for spinning around here, I’ll show off my Spinner’s Web Rosa for you today. It’s closer to a bulky weight this time, but so lovely. I didn’t realize the pictures were so blurry when I took them, but you can still see the lovely oranges and purples blended in with the pink. I finished it up last week.

Little Man has been dragging his nature box around with him the last two weeks. This box is filled with all of his treasures he finds outside, from pinecones to dead cicadas. It also includes his magnifying glass, flower press, nature journal, all sorts of good stuff that he loves. I’ve been reading The Creative Family by the lovely Soulemama and was inspired by her family’s gorgeous nature table. So yesterday, Little Man and I got to it and set one up.

Our visions were a bit different.

Mine included covering the table with some pretty fabric, adding some nice plants, getting some sweet dishes and jars for all his stuff and setting it all up. Nice, right?

His plan was no plants unless he was growing them himself, no pretty fabric (no pretty anything!), cardboard boxes and cans.

Guess who won?

Not the most attractive nature table, is it?

Since he was the only one of us who felt the need to burst into tears at every suggestion, I figured I’d better let him win on this one. I’m just thankful he did not remember the beaver skeleton that he and the Skeptic found last summer, which is hidden in the basement. I’m sure he’d want that on display too. The dead cicada is there, but I hid the jar behind his radish plant. At least we agreed on keeping all his supplies on the second shelf under the table, so at the top is just for display and collecting. I’m hoping it will evolve a bit over the summer and maybe when he’s not so tired (or feeling so very five) that we can rearrange a bit. I really would like it to be for the whole family, but for now he has claimed it as his. (Could I get him to go for felted bowls?)

Little Man is a constant teacher in letting go. So many times I have an idea for a project and his idea turns out to be very different from mine. It’s so hard for me to realize that the whole point is for him to get to create, that I might have a suggestion or idea but really it’s all about him. I have plenty of chances to do my own thing, and he certainly doesn’t tell me how to spin or knit.

Knittykid is getting into the creative picture around here too now, so I’ll be spending my summer making sure that both boys have their chance to try their own ideas, keeping mine to gentle reminders or suggestions if they need it.

I need to be quick about this post tonight, so I’ll get right to the info!

As usual, Shepherd Harvest was a blast. The guys always take me there for Mother’s Day; you can’t beat that! The day was sunny but the wind was so cold, and for some reason it made me in a hurry to get through everything. A cold day I can handle, but a cold wind? Brrrrrr…..

I hit the Spinner’s Web booth:

Handspun by Stephania:

River’s Edge Weaving Studio:

Hidden Valley Farm

And of , a vendor I forgot. Do you recognize this fiber? (She had a bunch of huge bins, lots of stuff with handspun samples of each one.)

And, Little Man making friends with a lamb. (Knittykid was hanging out in the backpack). This shepherd seemed to be the only friendly one in the barn. How is it that the vendors are so nice, but you head out to the animals and their people are so darn grumpy? Is it just me?

I didn’t buy any yarn this year…a first, I think. I was fiber focused!!!