Miri Makes Things

Ice Cream and Egg for Frances

On sunny days...monsters come out to play...

They picnic on the lawn... Ice cream and eggs... A bit strange, but so are the monsters.

Meet Frances the elder, and Frances the younger. The moral of this knitting story is that when you make a cute friend for an older daughter, a younger daughter will inevitably try to steal said friend for her own, thereby creating much sibling rivalry and bedtime angst. The solution: the monsters must multiply.

Frances hangs out.

She gets kisses.

She gives kisses.

And order is, at least temporarily, restored to the household. :)

A study in stripes

Veera Vallimaki's Stripe Study shawl...

In colors I would never normally choose to work with. 

I went into Happy Knits fully intending to go for one of my usual earth-toned combinations.  Antler and Filigree, I was thinking, plus a brown shade.  Trees and earth...leaves and trunks...

But it was not to be.  I stood there, holding up combination after combination.  I tried the turquoise with the filigree and white...not quite.  I tried the yellow with a more sedate blueish grey... Finally, I gave in to what was staring me in the face, calling to me to be bold and expand my palate.  Turquoise and coral and gold...colors that make me think of bright African beads and sun with surf.  

My camera doesn't quite do them justice.  They're richer in reality.

This was a while in the making.  It grows from a top triangle, with each subsequent stripe slightly longer and thicker than the last.  Short rows create the shaping.  

The yarn is Madelinetosh Tosh Light.  Single ply fingering weight, yet surprisingly strong.

If you prefer to use only two colors in your palate- which is what the original pattern calls for, be aware that two skeins of Tosh Light will only take you through 12 stripes...not the fully 13.  Not a deal breaker, as evidenced by the countless 12 stripe examples on Ravelry.  This is a very large finished product.  

It's the perfect shawl for those Portland late spring days that you don't trust to stay 100% reliably warm and sunny, and the perfect shawl to go with you to air conditioned theaters and whatnot in the summertime.  

 

Altitude

About a month ago, I went to a nursing conference.  My first out-of-state nursing conference, and my first time on an airplane in almost six years.  Now, for those of you who haven't been to a nursing conference, let me assure you that they typically involve hours and hours of sitting in a conference hall. Picture yourself at a round table with about five other nurses who you may or may not know, surrounded by about 20 other round tables.  Picture a heap of random candy in the middle of the table because nothing says "health promotion" quite like a big ole pile of high fructose corn syrup.  The candy is also there because about 90% of nurses are still women and, let's face it, 90% of women are still highly motivated by chocolate.  As the conference progresses and the presenters face a growing need for keeping participants actively involved or, at a minimum, awake...the pile of candy continues to grow.  So...what to do when stuck in a chair in a room in a conference center for a day with a pile of candy?  You can either succumb to the obvious dietary distraction and spend the rest of the day fighting off a glucose coma OR...you can KNIT.  And KNIT.  And KNIT.  

At my first nursing conference I knitted most of my first Shalom sweater.  At my second, a shawl was born.  My third...my daughter's Tea Leaves grew arms.  

Is it rude to knit?  I say no, especially when the alternative is struggling to keep your eyes open.  That is not to say that nursing conferences are boring- they're not.  Nursing school wasn't boring either, but I kid you not when I say that by the end of the second year, at least 20 or so of us (out of a class of just over 80) would regularly craft in lecture.  A human simply can not sit still in one place for more than an hour or two without the mind either getting up and wandering or crying "uncle!" and closing up shop.  Knitting helps keep me alert and gives my hands something productive to do (if they're not knitting, they tend to pick at my clothes or my hair or endlessly doodle flowers on the nearest available paper surface).  

Conference planners have started to wise up to the trend.  You'll see things like, "please keep crafting activities quiet and unobtrusive" in the program guides.  

So anyway...here I was, headed to a four day nursing conference extravaganza, a shawl's worth of yarn in hand, plus a hoodie to finish for a friend's daughter.  WELL.  This was not your average nursing conference.  Not by a long shot.  This was the mother of all nursing conferences, in a convention center the size of a small college campus, where the sheer distance between events and the amount of paperwork to lug made one less than enthusiastic about carting around crafting supplies.  There were hundreds...literally hundreds...of clinical posters to review.  In order to collect the continuing education credits necessary to maintain your advanced certification, you had to STAND to review them, then hike to a central computer depot where you had to STAND to enter your comments.  The actual presentations were chances to collapse in a chair and catch your breath.  There were no round, white tables.  Just chairs.  In some instances, tens of thousands of chairs (I kid you not).  Then there was the fact that you had this wonderful city to explore (fodder for a future blog post of its own), and you wanted to take every opportunity between sessions to get out and do just that.  I ate like a pregnant sow and still managed to lose weight because I must have walked at least five miles a day and stood for more hours than I sat. 

Through the whole of the conference, I knitted maybe ten rows.  Ten short rows.  I kid you not.

Which brings me back to that other thing that causes one to bring yarn to a conference...the hours spent on the airplane.  Oh yes...there were many hours spent cruising at 40,000 feet.  The hoodie grew a hood, and a shawl was born.  I left with two balls of Madelinetosh Tosh Sport in colorway "Cove", and returned with this...

Henslowe

Henslowe is a jet-lagged, red-eye taking knitting traveler's dream pattern.  Rows and rows of garter stitch that are nearly impossible to mess up.  That's what happened at 40,000 feet.  The lace happened after I was home in Portland and had my head out of the clouds.

 

It is a smart, smart pattern, not really like anything else I've knitted.  The lace portion is picked up from the natural border of the garter crescent.  As the pattern warns, it is very important to keep those edge stitches loose, or the finished garment will pull too tightly across the center.  I took care, but would still try to make them even looser if I knit this again.  

This is easy lace.  Each row can easily be put to memory.  No lifelines required.  The dazzling effect is just the natural result of creatively placed yarn-overs, with slight variations from row to row.  The last two inches or so are picked up vertically along the bottom border.  That's really the only part of the project that requires some closer attention, as the four repeating lines will have you refering back to your pattern frequently.  

The Henslowe pattern was originally written for fingering/sock weight yarn, but my first exposure to the pattern was from Itty-bitty's blog, where she used a sport weight with gorgeous results.  I like my shawls on the bigger side anyway, so I went with the sport weight and a size 7 needle.  I recommend using a solid or subtley variegated shade in order to let the beauty of the lacework take center stage.  

Missing the Boat Once More

The baby present boat. Remember...?  The one I swore I wasn't going to miss again.  Well, I missed it.  Two hats knitted well in advance of due dates.  Two hardcore PACU nurses working right up to...and past...their due dates.  Several last minute chances to get the hats in the cute little boxes I had bought well ahead of time and into the hands of their owners.  Missed em all.  

So here I sit, with two finished hats and there they (the mamas) sit..with two finished babies.  Sometime in the hopefully near future, heads and hats will meet.  

Sadie Laniece, this one's for you:

Do you have any idea how long your mother has waited to put a girly hat on a girly head?  I do... 

Nice shiny, fresh, plant-dyed cotton.  You can wear it this fall.  Or, if this summer is anything like last year's, you can wear it this summer as well.

Ronan Eli...I have a sneaking suspicion you've been blessed with your mother's awesome curls.  Nice, thick, warm curls.  In case they haven't grown in by the fall/winter, though, you may need a hat for your cute little head.  This one's for you.  I promise to tell mama to handwash it...this one is pure wool. 

Agnes

This yarn (Debbie Bliss Donegal Chunky Tweed), bought on sale at Yarn Garden way back when in the post-Christmas, post-birthday days of Much Yarn Money, went through several incarnations before it finally coalesced as Agnes.  First it was a third Shalom.  It was going to be a sleeveless Shalom vest...until I made it past the yoke, tried it on, and realized it was ginormous.  Heavy sigh....rip, rip, rip...  Next, it was going to be another vest.  The name escapes me right now...I think it might have been "Abby" or "Abigail".  For some reason, I decided against that.  I think I was worried that the thick yarn might not have enough drape and might end up too boxy and rigid.  

And then along came Agnes.  I found her on one of my late-night strolls down Ravelry Lane.  (Late night for me, by the way, is that hour between 9 and 10 pm when I sometimes let myself stay up.)  It had all of the necessary, safe components.  Raglan (been there, done that many times...unlikely to screw it up), boat neck (wide...not constricting...that is good), not fitted (unlikely to make me look pregnant...good!).  I checked the gauge...just right.  I cast on and the thing all but flew off the needles. Talk about a quick, satisfying knit.  I had *just* enough yarn to finish, with about a yard left over.  Five skeins for a long-sleeved sweater- not bad.  I wish I'd had a sixth, because my only complaint with this sweater is that it is a little on the short side.  It's meant to be cropped, but my body just doesn't pull off cropped all that well.  Mama needs an extra inch or two to cover the lagniappe.  Oh well.  It is what it is. I skipped on the pockets because they frightened me a little and I didn't feel I needed them.  That, and I was impatient.

I had trouble getting good pics, but here's the gist:

That look in my eyes, btw...that's the special look I reserve for "spring" weather in Portland.

I am 

SO

OVER

the

RAIN

ALREADY.

Shalom: the cheap-o remix

Remember back in August, when it was so cold I had to wear that nice dark brown Shalom sweater?  Yeah, well it's still cold.  Cold and wet.  Which makes me a little miserable.  Which makes me feel I need another Shalom, STAT.  

This is the same pattern, knit to exactly the same proportions.  After having to add a line of single crochet around the collars of both sweaters, though, I am starting to believe I might have to cast on fewer stitches at the neckline next time I knit this.  The original pattern recommends 67 to start, and I use the larger 77 stitch modification recommended by some knitters who have upsized.  I like open necklines, but there's a limit to everything and I think I've pushed it with these two cardigans.  

Anyway, the  yarn is cheap.  This is, I think, a $40 sweater, minus the buttons.  Berroco comfort chunky.  Totally synthetic.  Totally not the ideal sweater yarn.  In fact, the salesclerk at Twisted exclaimed in surprise when she wrang me up, "Oh wow! I've never heard of anyone making a sweater with this stuff!  Usually people just use it for scarves and baby blankets and stuff."  Uh huh.  Well, tis the lean season in the yarn finance department.  

Here it is.  It's gotten a lot of wear.  In fact, I'm wearing it right now...as yet more cold rain falls outside. 

In case you're wondering how the yarn has held up through the first two washings, the answer is so-so.  I actually ran it through the machine the first time, since you can do that with synthetic yarn.  No change in form, but there is already some obvious wear and minor pilling from that.  I hand-washed next time and will probably continue to do so, just to extend the lifetime of the sweater.  The matter of weaving in ends is also challenging.  You can't felt the ends together (not that I've actually ever been brave enough to do that with even 100% wool, but I am assured it can be done).  No...basically you have to be careful about where you place your yarn breaks, as much as you can.  Knots like to work their way through to the wrong side, but it's not a huge deal overall.  I definitely wear the sweater a lot.  Will I knit a sweater with this stuff again?  Probably just kid sweaters.  Unless I get really desperate.  Let's hope it doesn't come to that.  It's hard being a yarn snob on a budget.

All that she wants

Even with seemingly no end in sight to the cold and rain, getting the bigger sister to wear anything warmer than a long-sleeved shirt is a serious challenge.  Since I rarely have the privilege of taking her to school in the morning, I have to lay the warm things out the night before and plead a little and hope she wears them.  It's hit or miss at best.  She claims she's not cold and/or that she prefers the cold to being warm.  Such strangeness to me...I'd rather be a little too warm than at all cold any day.  

I get pangs of guilt every time I cast on for another 3-year old sweater.  They're faster to knit and they get way more wear than the 8-year old variety.  I've sat down and laid out 8-year old patterns, bought yarn I thought she might like an 8-old sweater in.  No interest, really.  Then I overheard her telling someone, "I don't really like sweaters".  Hmmm...more strangeness, but OK.  So I just asked her what she would want me to knit her if I could make her anything.  

Socks.

Oh!  Nooooo!! Not that!  Anything but!!  You know I've never knit a pair of socks because I don't like small yarn and small needles and anything less than 16 inch circumference... Grumble, grumble... I did say I'd make her anything. 

OK, what kind of socks.

Well, slipper socks that I can wear around the house to keep my feet warm.

Slippers??  NOW we're talking!  I can totally do slippers.  Slippers are so not socks.

She picked out the yarn (brown and olive green shades of Lamb's Pride Bulky).  I picked out the pattern.

The pattern seems to knit up a little on the small side, but luckily I'd gone with the bigger size.  

They get a LOT of wear :)

...and now she's saying she wants a poncho.  Hmmm....Stay tuned.

Pea Shoot Pullover

I cast on for this as soon as I bought last year's issue of Interweave Knits Weekend.  It's the Pea Shoot Pullover by Cathy Carron.  I love the way the increases happen by splitting off into more and more knit ribs.  Very clever and unusual construction.  

Casting on for the smallest size was a bit of a leap of faith.  I am not used to knitting the smallest offered size, and the model in the magazine- wearing the small size- is clearly smaller than I am.  HOWEVER...I had to take the designer at her word that the size small would accommodate up to a size 48 bust.  Seriously...this pattern goes up to 57.75 bust circumference!  

 

And they're not kidding...it fit, with some room to spare.  

If you have big boobs, this is the sweater for you!! :)  

I went with cheap Berroco Comfort yarn again, but would use something nicer and lighter if I knit this again (which I might).  As it is, this is a pretty substantial short-sleeved sweater that works well for layering in the not-quite-cold, not-quite-warm weather we live with most of the year in Portland.

Kind of surprised more Ravelers haven't picked up on this pattern yet.  Probably just a matter of time until one or two well knowns knit it and it takes off.

Big Grey

a.k.a. The Husband Sweater. A.K.A. the sweater he's told me I owe him for the last four years, since he gave me The Ring. 

Four years.  Seriously?   WOW.  That flew by.  Those who know us can look back and shake their heads with us at how crazy we were, really.  In the space of three weeks, we got engaged, married, and pregnant.  There was also a job loss in there, the day before our wedding, and a birthday two days after the wedding.  For the record, we did NOT get married because we got pregnant...we got pregnant two days AFTER the wedding.  Legitimate, folks!  Not planned, but totally legit'.  BTW, interesting bit of trivia...the most common birthday in the USA is October 5th.  Coincides with mid-January conception.  Little sister was born on October 6th.  So...I guess if you're wondering why we would go and do a crazy thing like get pregnant two days after a wedding, you can blame it on the weather. 

Anyway, that first year was kind of nuts.  Hyperemesis hit me at 5 1/2 weeks.  I literally have  ultrasound pics of Little Sister at 5.5 weeks because I was sick enough to warrant that kind of stuff at the ER.  I puked and puked and puked around the clock.  The only time I wasn't puking or gearing up to puke, trying not to puke, or thinking about puking was while I slept.  Within two minutes of being on my feet in the morning, I was worshipping at the porcelain altar.  That's the way it was with my first pregnancy, too, except that the nausea/vomiting let up completely at about 13 weeks.  Not so the second time around.  I was on zofran (an amazing and amazingly expensive antiemetic to which Little Sis probably owes her very existence) for the first 19 weeks and continued puking intermittently until I delivered at 39.5 weeks.  I puked my way to work in the morning...puked in the car, puked in the parking lot, puked in the biohazard bin when I got to work.  Puked in the bathroom.  I pretty much puked my way through 9/12 of my first year of marriage.  It was kind of nuts.

There was other stress too.  Job stress.  Job loss stress. Immigration stress.  Stress from unsupportive third parties.  Working while puking stress.   Working with sick babies while pregnant stress.  Unreassuring ultrasound stress.  Perinatologist with zero bedside manner stress.  Having to hide the possibility that our baby would not be born healthy from those who we knew wouldn't be supportive stress.  Going on bedrest stress. Difficult (oh, what a euphemism!) delivery stress.  Baby in NICU for a week stress.  Baby as pediatric grand rounds case of the week because they couldn't figure out why she wasn't satting well stress.  Baby going home, only to be readmitted at 3 weeks' age for a freak toenail infection stress. 

Somehow we made it.  I think the unbelievably wonderful little baby that ultimately came home healthy had a lot to do with that.  I can't imagine the life we would be leading now without her, although I'm sure there would have been other adventures worth sharing and certainly a smoother start.  I think we probably deserve a lot of the credit ourselves, too.  We were strong enough as individuals to suck it up and deal and recognize when one of us needed the other and when we needed space.  What didn't kill us really did make us stronger.  Every year, stronger than the last. 

We had originally planned to have a "real" wedding in October of 2008.  We had a baby that month instead.  I never wanted a big wedding anyway.  The quickie at the Historical Society with the retired judge and three witnesses was just fine with me.  As time passed, though, I started thinking it might be nice to have a 5 year anniversary party.  In my book, that's a heck of a lot more worth celebrating than your first day of marriage.  People in this country routinely blow upwards of 20K on the first day of their marriage, and 50% of those marriages don't last.  Nah, better to wait and spend a little money and party and celebrate having gotten through those first tenuous years, survived pregnancy and parenting together, grown together... 

For years, that "5-years' party" seemed ages away.  Now it's almost here.  Now THAT's kind of nuts.  We will have that party, but we'll wait and do it in the summer, when family is in town and the weather is better.  Because, let's face it...mid-January may lend itself well to conception, but not so well to partying. 

So, about that sweater...it was appropriately long and grueling in the making.  It was definitely one of those "what doesn't kill you..." projects.  Come to think of it, that's what I titled my post last time I knit a big sweater with this yarn.  Hmmmm....

I could probably write a bit more about this sweater than I will.  Suffice it to say the pattern is masterfully constructed, the yarn was...affordable (you can read more about it in that earlier post- it's Berroco Remix), and I managed to hide over a month's worth of knitting from my husband.  But most of all...

IT FITS. 

IT TOTALLY FITS.

HALLELUJAH!!!!

...which is a good thing, because it may be another four years before I can bring myself to knit another man-sized sweater in worsted weight yarn ;)

Here's to the next four years, and beyond, with my wonderful husband.  Hopefully he'll forgive me for posting not-the-most-flattering pic from Christmas.  I had to prove it fits, and he also happens to be wearing the shirt he married me in.  How very fitting. :)

Happy 4th Anniversary, my husband!

 

Camilla Kiddo

Here I am.  Look at me.  Am I not adorable?  Yes, I am!  A am BEYOND adorable! 

Even when I make faces at my food, I'm still well above average.

 

So mommy knits me a lot of things.

But sometimes I am very, very bad...

Here I am, throwing a full-blown tantrum because mommy asked me to share MY Luna Bar with my sister.  MY Luna Bar...  When I'm this bad, mommy says I'm being "beastly".  I say, "NO! I'm NOT beast!!"

Mommy shakes her head (and puts down the camera) and knits.

Mommy knits fast.  I'm very small. 

When you're very cute and very small, people who knit fast like to knit things for you.  They knit you a lot of things.  Because you're so small, they buy really nice yarn for your things.  Mommy says this is "Madelinetosh Chunky".

The sweater is called "Camilla Kid".  If you want to read all of mommy's thoughts about it, you can look on Ravelry .  Mommy thinks it's pretty, but she had a little trouble with the yoke.

 

I had a little trouble the first time I wore it.

It was one of those "very, very bad...beastly" times.

Mommy's not sure she wants to think about it.  Let's just say that the lady who owns Cool Cottons on SE Hawthorne Blvd was very, very patient.  Mommy says that being patient is one of those things I need to work on.  I wasn't very patient that day. 

You wouldn't know it from looking at me, though.

 

The minute mommy asked me to pose for a picture, I  got very, very happy. 

And cute. 

Which made mommy remember why she knits me all this stuff in the first place.