Three Little Purls

(on Ravelry)

Pattern | Mousie (Rav link)
Source | Whimsical Little Knits by Ysolda Teague 
Yarns | Body : Plymouth Yarn, Baby Alpaca DK, Heather Grey
            Tail & Paws : Jaeger, Alpaca, color 142
            Ears & Nose : Mama Blue Knitting Goods, Troika Sport, Lover
Needle | Knit Picks Classic Circs US0 (2.0 mm)
Finished | April 11, 2009

One of my sweet girls has just been diagnosed with Celiac disease. Although not life threatening, it is certainly life changing. All those mouth watering loaves of bread I’d lovingly baked for my family turned out to be the very thing that was making her ill. The same goes for her favorite split pea and barley soup. The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of pantry cleaning, purging (adios to much of my impressive collection of flours and grains) and restocking (hello xantham gum and teff), contaminated utensil removal (bye, bye, pizza stone and bamboo cutting boards and other assorted necessities), doctor appointments, blood work and, ugh, an endoscopy on Monday. It’s been stressful, to say the least. Fortunately, Mousie was finished in time to accompany my daughter into the g.i. suite while her daddy and I nervously fidgeted in the day surgery waiting room. Everything went well, and now we find ourselves learning the ropes of the gluten-free diet.

It’s a good thing, too. Turns out that Celiac is genetic and my husband has many of the symptoms. His daily bowl of Cheerios and love affair with anything wrapped in a flour tortilla may soon be coming to an end. This time, though, we’ll be prepared. Maybe I need to knit him a Mousie, too.

(on Ravelry)

Pattern | Top Down Raglan Baby Cardigan from Needlework on the Net (Rav link)
Yarn | Mama Blue Knitting Goods, Troika Sport, ‘Cabbage’, 1 skein
Needle | Addi Lace US5 (3.75 mm)
Size | Newborn
Started | October 2008
Finished | January 14, 2009

Sometimes I find it relaxing to mindlessly follow a pattern. No sketches, no graph paper, no numbers, and no thinking. Nothing but squishy yarn and some stockinette. Good stuff. 

The only change I made was to the sleeves. There wasn’t enough yarn left for full length sleeves, so they are 3/4 length with a split garter ridge cuff. Perfect for a wee California girl. 

Rainy Mondays are great. For me that means loungewear, mugs of tea, and schoolwork with my girls. There’s usually a bit of knitting to be done, too. My afternoon will be all about going to Trader Joe’s and reskeining yarn for the shop, but for now I’m going to catch up on my WIP’s while the girls take a short break from the three R’s. Here’s what I have at the top of the workbasket.

These are becoming some thick socks I spun from superwash merino roving in Hot Date from Squoosh. They weren’t going to be tall enough with my handspun alone, so I’m mixing in a little bit of a pastel Sock Hop handspun I have leftover from another project.
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This grey blob is a chunky sweater creatively named Short-Sleeved Cardigan with Ribbing from Steph Japel’s Fitted Knits. I’m making a couple mods here and here, most notably long sleeves. Just one word of caution to those looking to knit this - there is a fair amount of errata in the book, including this pattern.
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This last project is pair of EZ’s Mitered Mittens made from some handspun in the stash. I’m knitting them with a thumb gusset, and it’s going great.

(on Ravelry)

Yarn | my handspun, Spunky Eclectic Corriedale roving in Cheeky Monkey
Needle | Addi Turbo US 5 (3.75 mm)
Gauge | 5 sts = 1″
Start/Finished | August 2008

Quick and easy to knit. I cast on 68 sts, k 1×1 rib for 8 rows, st st for 4.5″ then began decreasing for the crown. 

(on Ravelry)

Pattern | Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap (Rav link) 
Yarn | my handspun - spun from Superwash Merino roving from Squoosh in Peach Pit
Needle | Addi Lace US2 (2.75mm)
Gauge | 7.5sts = 1″
Started | November 2008
Finished | January 14, 2008

Another project that sat *this close* to being finished. I finally took a few minutes to weave in the ends and add some ties, and behold! a hat! I think it resembles a mushroom.

(on Ravelry)

Pattern | Um, a chevron-y stitch pattern
Yarn | Knittin’ Pretty, Handspun 50 sw merino/ 50 tencel, 1 skein, approx 558 yards  
Hook | Susan Bates E (3.5mm) aluminum hook, 
Size | 74″ x 7″
Start/Finished | Early Fall- January 14, 2008

I am a very s-l-o-w crocheter. Whatever motivated me to create a scarf out of a light fingering weight yarn, I will never know. Most of the ladies at the crochet workshop cranked out adult sized blankets and an astounding amount of baby layette in the time it took me to hook these four ounces. Had the yarn not been so lovely, I don’t know if I would have been able to finish. Thank you Ms. Knittin’ Pretty, for spinning up some lovely yarn. It was a joy to work with and it received many compliments week after week (after week) at crochet class.

Tada! I finished and finally photographed my Scarf of Unusual Size.

(on Ravelry)

Pattern | Celine by John Brinegar (Rav link)
Yarn | Mama Blue Knitting Goods, Pure BFL Aran (currently unavailable), ‘Lilac’, 3 skeins
Needle | Addi Turbo US13 (9.0 mm)
Size | 8′ x 8.5″
Start/Finished | Fall 2008

Simple, simple, simple. I cast on 24 sts and held the yarn double until the yarn was gone.

Aside from boring slog-worthy WIPs, I pride myself in being a one main project at a time kind of girl. Well, my day has come.

I have three sick and bored children to tend to. No one is horrendously ill, but we are holed up here at home. We’ve gone into sick mode. Legos are being stepped on with bare feet, Nancy Drew computer games are being solved, bookmarks are placed, crayons are rolling under the couch and little Nintendo game consoles are being linked.

In order to survive another day of Ice Age 2, Racing Stripes, and straight to video Disney movie sequels, I’ve been casting on like a crazy lady. I’ll fill in the details later, but here is a sampling of the current WIP pile.

::deep breath::

Okay everybody, here it is… Squid the Socks and Ink the Yarn.

| click photo to see bigger |

Many many thanks to Ulli, fellow indie yarn lover and the fastest and kindest knitter ever, for being gracious enough to test knit these for me. My Squid and Ink socks are not quite to this stage of completion, but I have a zillion half knit Squids and Squidlike swatches behind me.

If you would like to make your own Squids, here’s the details:

Squid and Ink sock kits will available in Limited Edition numbered kits in my esty shop as part of the Creature Edition update, on Friday, November 7, at 6pm Pacific Standard Time. Each kit will come with a printed copy of my new Squid sock pattern, and a skein of Simple Merino Sock in Ink. Squid is a cuff down, gusseted heel sock, and ability to read charts is required. Knitting needles and other notions are not included in the kits. Recommended needle size is a US1, but I don’t have to tell you that’s just a suggestion, right? Ulli used a US0 for the socks you see. I’m using size US1 for mine.

When the kits are are gone, they are gone. Not to worry, though, both the Squid sock pattern and the Ink colorway will become available separately in early 2009.

The Ink colorway was tricky for me to photograph accurately as socks, but this yarny shot is perfect on my monitor. Well all agree that your screen, browser and eyeballs may see it slightly different, yes?

Phew… I didn’t think it would be so nerve wracking to show you this project.  Here’s a bit of what has been going through my head all week:

When is the sun going to come out? … Why, oh why, is it so hard to photograph this stupid yarn? … I hope the pictures are clear enough. … They’re not, I know it. … This is the best I can do. … Oh no! This is the best I can do!… I hope they like them. … What if they don’t? … What if they hate them?… If they hate them, what am I going to do with all these sock kits?! … They are going to hate them. … No they won’t. … Yes, they will. … Well, you can’t please everyone all the time. … Man, I need to chill out. … How about I eat some banana bread and make myself a cup of tea? … No, there still too much to do. … I hate that my house is full of wooly dust bunnies. … People who come over prolly think I never clean. … Well, I do! … How dare they! … Today the wool bunnies are blue, Ink blue. … Maybe I should clean more often. … What if something I haven’t thought of yet goes wrong? … Aaaaaahhhh!

Many thanks to my nine-year old sock photographer, Stinkerbell, who set aside a herd of Breyer horses to brave a cold tile floor to bring you these images. I like this outtake best.

(on Ravelry)

Pattern | Humble Sock goes Toe Up (Rav link) - modified for 44 sts
Yarn | my handspun - spun from Superwash Merino roving from Squoosh in Peach Pit
Needle | Addi Lace US2 (2.75mm)
Gauge | 7.5sts = 1″
Started | October 10, 2008
Finished | November 3, 2008

Super easy socks. I’ve been spending a healthy chunk of my time winding (and winding and winding) yarn for the shop update, and these were the perfect brainless project to save me from going insane.

Now back to winding…