Another Episode of Cuteness!

I went to Preach and Psych's house for a bible study last Monday.

Before class started, I was sitting on the floor knitting a coffee cup cozy.

Angel walked in, and asked if she could help. She wanted to knit, too.

Angel is only three years old. Barely three, in fact. Three years and 17 days.

Even I think that is a wee bit young to be entrusted with sharp pointy objects.

Still, who was I to crush her little creative instincts?

I invited her to sit in my lap and "help" me.

JoNo was there, and took this video for me, and texted it to my iPhone. I would have posted it sooner, but it took me this long to figure out how to get it off the phone and onto the computer...



The cutest 14 seconds ever! (She actually "helped" for quite a while.)

Birthday for Angel

Today is Angel's 3rd birthday. (Wow! She sure is growing up!)

In honor of our shared love of tu-tus and frou-frous, as well as my known proclivity for book giving, I presented her with a copy of "Tea For Ruby" by Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York.

And, since she is so much fun to knit for...a pink and purple boa scarf as well! Doesn't she make an adorable birthday princess?

How to Knit in Theaters

Twilight and I took Whiz to see the movie "How to Train Your Dragon" this afternoon. (Bonus: since Whiz's uncle works at the theater...our tickets were FREE!!!)

I took knitting. (Big surprise.)

Specifically, I took a pair of wrist warmers that I am making out of the yarn leftovers from the Martinelli sweater. I cast them on before I got to the theater, but only had time to knit one round.

During the previews, I did the rounds for the knuckles, and successfully navigated the button hole for the thumb. (I'm debating whether or not to pick up stitches for an actual thumb later.)

Once the film itself started, I merrily knit my 2x2 rib down the rest of the warmer. I figured I could get the sleeve finished by the end of the film.

Then...

...disaster.

I came to end of a round and realized that I had ended with a P1 instead of a P2. Somewhere I had messed up. But where? How far back? (and frankly...this occurred during an especially poorly lit portion of the film...night time, fog, smoke...so I didn't even have bright light from the screen to help me.)

Aside from the inherent headache of tinking when using 2 circular needles in the round...I was trying to tink in the dark. In a theater. During a movie that I wanted to pay attention to! The whole point of movie theater knitting projects is that they are not supposed to require ATTENTION!!!

I had to make a choice. Enjoy the film and have fidgety fingers, or fix the error and miss some of the movie.

In the end...the movie won. And it was a great film. Absolutely nothing like the book...but great in its own right.

(Incidentally, I fixed the error in the theater hallway while Whiz and I waited for Twilight to use the restroom. The mess up, it turns out, had only occurred 3 ribs back.)

Project Knitter

Confession: I am slightly obsessed with Project Runway.

Aside from some of the whack-a-doo challenges, and the amusing interpersonal drama...I find that the show inspires me to be more creative with my knitting.

Last week, as I was was watching episode 7, I decided to multitask and straighten up my stash. While tidying (petting) I came across the little tiny leftover lumps of yarn from Lovely's wrist warmers.

"This is really nice yarn," I thought to myself. "It is a shame there isn't enough of either color to really do anything with."

And then the power of Project Runway took over. It was as though a light bulb had turned on above my head. (I may have even checked for one floating there like a pentecostal tongue of fire.)I could make something if I used both of them together!

And thus, a Scandanavian-esque hat was born. I didn't use a pattern, and actually improvised the stitch pattern as I went. I also used every last stinking inch of the yarn.

There was only one problem. Since there hadn't been much yarn to begin with, the hat ended up being very small. Clearly, it was a child's hat...but for what size of child? I thought it would be too big for Nephew, and it was too small for Spaz and Whiz. So, I carted it to worship this morning and started plunking it on kids' heads till I found one it fit. And even then, it was a little bit small. (Thank you Ark and Fish for being helpful!) So, I figured the hat fit a toddler...a one or two year old. [Update: I took it to Brother's house, and was pleasantly surprised to find it actually did fit Nephew!]

I really like the design, so I'm going to make an adult out of some periwinkle and white llama I also found in the stash.

(Also, I do realize that I am posting on a Monday about a show that airs on Thursday. This is because I don't have regular television, and so have to wait for the episode to be posted online before I can watch it.)

Wizardy Whiz!

Funny, I had been feeling bad about not giving Whiz enough blog attention...and this is his 3rd post in the past month or so!

For Christmas, Psych commissioned a scarf for Whiz. A Wizard scarf. Specifically a Harry Potter Gryffindor House Scarf for Whiz.

I have a knitting book called Charmed Knits in which every pattern is from/inspired by/based on the Harry Potter books and movies. In it, there is a pattern for a Gryffindor house scarf.

As usual though, I didn't like the pattern all that much. I thought the stripes were too wide, the scarf itself was too wide, and that the yarn called for would be itchy. So I changed it up. I substituted a different yarn, used a different needle size, cast on fewer stitches, and changed colors more frequently. In fact, the only thing that stayed the same was that it was striped, knit in the round, and had fringe.

The first problem I had was with the yarn. As mentioned in previous posts, this scarf DEVOURED yarn. It sucked it up like it was the black hole of knitting projects. For more information on the pain I suffered as a result, please refer to previous posts.

The second problem was that the pattern did not give a very accurate finished length, instead it told how many stripes to knit, and what the finished length would be (approximately) including the fringe. My scarf stripes were a different dimension, so when I had finished the completed number the scarf was still really short. Since Whiz is a kid, his neck is thinner than mine and he is shorter than I am. I had a hard time judging size based on myself. Solution: take the scarf to the library and try it on one of our volunteer's third grade sons! Success!

I delivered the scarf to Psych at the ornament exchange. (My normal delivery time/place is church, but there was no way to do that without Whiz seeing.) She loved it.

Christmas morning, bright and early, she texted me a picture of him proudly wearing the finished product!

Whiz's Wit

I did a special Christmas storytime at the pajama party the foster fam had last night for all of the small folk from church.

As I was leaving, I was slowly putting on my gloves, scarf, hat, coat, etc. and talking to Whiz. (Who had been wearing the Whiz Bang Beanie, by the way...) The conversation went like this:

Whiz: Did you make your hat?

Me: No. I probably could have, but this one was on sale at Target.

Whiz: Do people ask you that a lot? If you made everything you own?

Me: Yep. All the time.

Whiz: It would be pretty cool if you could make, like, everything you ever needed.

Me: Well, I do make a lot of it.

Whiz: Well, but not stuff like food or money.

Me: It would be pretty cool if I could just knit up some money.

Whiz: Yeah...but...you know that's illegal, right?

Me:...

I love that kid. So concerned that I might try and counterfeit cash with yarn from the stash...wanted to make sure I was aware of the government's current stand on currency production!

Gifts Given

I have, against my own better judgment, allowed a bit of a gift IOU queue to build up.

This is less than ideal for two reasons:

1. I hate giving IOU's instead of an actual gift...it makes me feel flaky.

2. With the holidays swiftly approaching I have lots of projects to finish NOW...I don't need to still be playing catch up with a retroactive gift list!

But...Frabjous day, calloo callay...I was able to almost catch myself up last week! (I would be completely caught up, except Psych still hasn't told me what she actually wants for her birthday...hint hint...not so subtle suggestion...TELL ME!)

First I finished Wiz's Whiz Bang Beanie. I know that I don't give Wiz nearly as much blog-attention as I give to his siblings, Spaz and Angel...but he is an AMAZING kid. He is genius smart, good natured, athletic, super polite, and (my favorite) a voracious reader. For his birthday I gave him a choice: hat or scarf. He chose hat, and asked for bright blue and red. I used a wool acrylic blend (all the warmth, none of the itch), but can't find the ball band so I don't know what brand/color it was. I made a simple 2X2 ribbed beanie, 80 stitches cast onto US8 needles. (I had to look at my Harry Potter knitting book to get an idea of juvenile head circumference, since I generally do adults or babies not in between.) I think he liked it.

I gave it to him Sunday morning. Knowing that a picture had to be taken for the blog, he wore it with a color coordinated sweatshirt to worship services Sunday night. We had a mini photo shoot in the back of the building, and he chose his favorite one for here!

Next up was Lady's scarf. She recently acquired a new coat that is a dark orchid color. She wanted a "fancy" scarf to match it, but one that would go with her other clothes as well. She specifically mentioned forest green. I know she wears a lot of jewel tones, so I chose a variegated wool that had the orchid, some royal purple, forest green, and turquoise mixed with a wee bit of black. (I think the black in the colorway offered a nice contrast and added some elegance. It kept the variegation from appearing rainbow-y.) My original intent was to use some sort of chevron pattern, or a mitred square. However, after casting on and knitting an inch or so I noticed that the pattern was totally obstructed by the color patterning. (Why put in all the work if it wasn't even going to show up?) So, instead I went with the lacy scarf pattern from Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair. The lace travels on the bias, and is enhanced by the color changes rather than obscured. I think it is marvelous.

This one was delivered tonight...and yet another church building photo shoot ensued. Now I can truly embark on my holiday knitting tomorrow with a clear conscience!

The Song That Does Not End

Yesterday was the third and FINAL Kids Get Knittin'@The Library program this session. (And I don't currently have a kids' program on the winter/spring calendar...)

We added this session last minute, and only opened it to the kids who had been wait listed from the first two sessions. As a result, I had a much smaller crowd. There were four girls, second through fourth grade, and two were sisters. I had not asked Volunteen to come in, because I asked that the kids RSVP to me if they were going to make it. And, although she was standing by, Miss-A didn't come in either.

There was a brief moment of panic shortly before the program began. Although I had left the hand knit socks, the instruction sheets, the project yarn, and all of the paperwork in my program box...for some INEXPLICABLE reason, I had taken my spare needles, demonstration needles, and demonstration yarn home with me the week before! This would normally not be a big deal because I am me. I always have knitting in my purse. Unfortunately, yesterday's knitting was a coffee cup cozy and a sweater...both of which were on circular needles!

I decided to wing it.

I took two pencils out of the supply cabinet, sharpened them, and stuck erasers on the end for needle stops.

The girls thought it was pretty funny that I was teaching them how to knit with pencils.

I wasn't the only one using the rubber erasers either. Two of the girls had purchased double pointed needles...so they got erasered as well!

Since I had a smaller crowd, I was able to spend more individual time with each girl. They were amazing, and caught on surprisingly quickly...especially considering how young they were!

(They all were VERY frustrated by the "out" in the "in, around, out, and off" sequence. But that frustration is normal in everyone I have ever taught from five year old Spaz up to senior citizens! It is a difficult step to explain. I truly have to demonstrate it one-on-one with their hands under mine on the needles...)

The girls got farther on their bookmarks than the majority of the kids did in previous weeks, but that is probably due to the smaller class size. No one finished though, but I didn't expect anyone too. The bookmark took me a little over half an hour and I have been knitting for over decades...literally.

The next library program is going to be in January or February. It is a scarf for teens at the other library branch. Also, at the beginning of the year, I have a two-part adult felted purse program. (That will be interesting, since for felting you need feltable yarn...)

Same Song, Second Verse

Tuesday was the second Kids Get Knittin'@The Library. Once again it was Miss-A, Volunteen, and me.

It amazed me how much having a different group of kids completely changed the whole dynamic of the class.

We had thirteen girls show up for the program. Of those thirteen, eleven of them were second graders. Of those eleven second graders, two of them were lefties. All I can say is that I am SO grateful to Sis-In-Law for being a leftie! Because it meant I had experience with knitting "backwards." (Actually, Jester was a leftie, too...I think.)

One major difference between this program and last week's program was the adult presence. We have consistently told the parents that they needn't stay. However, the vast majority of girls this week came for their brownie troop's field trip. As a result, we had 5 additional parents staying in the room. A couple of them even knew how to knit. This was very handy since the girls were younger and required more individual attention.

Another good thing was that this week all of the kids had the correct needles. We didn't have to eraser tip any double points, or give out loaners. (If we loan needles, we slip the projects onto unsharpened pencils when the program ends.)

Overall, it was a very smooth program.

I have developed a couple of mantras that I have the kids recite before we start each program:
"I love my needles."
"My needles are my friends."
"I will NOT strangle my needles with my yarn."
That seems to be the number one problem with kids knitting...they pull everything VERY tight.

Oh...and the steps to the knit stitch are also repeated verbally over and over and over and over:
"In. Around. Out. Off."
(Out, by the way, is wickedly hard for kids. They can get in and around fairly quickly. And off happens more frequently than it ought to...But "out" is killer.)

In the end, I had a lot of fun, and I hope they did as well.

We ended up with a large enough waiting list for both sessions that we decided to add a third session NEXT Tuesday for those who were not able to make the first two. (We are not advertising this however. Miss-A and I directly contacted those who were wait-listed. If everyone comes, the group will be half the size it has been. I am not sure we even told Volunteen about it.)

(By the way, as costume, Miss-A and I have been wearing my handknit rainbow socks and Sesame Street socks. Miss-A has been impressed with how INSANELY comfortable they are. She keeps offering to take them home and wash them. But I am afraid if she does that they will not make it back to me. I currently have them folded neatly in the program box under my desk, and there they will remain until next week when I take them to MY apartment and wash them myself!)

Get Knittin' @ the Library 4 Kids

Yesterday afternoon was the first of two kids knitting programs I am doing at the library this month. (It is a one session beginning class being offered on two different dates.)

I had 13 kids show up, ranging from 2nd-5th grade. Miss-A and 1 volunteen helped. (We wore some of my handknit socks and got to be shoeless in the library!)

It was a LOT of fun.

We provided the yarn (red heart worsted rainbow variegated acrylic), but the kids had to bring their own needles. I had had teen volunteers cut and ball the yarn during the summer. We made VERY easy garter stitch bookmarks. Still, its amazing(and endearing) how many bloopers you can make when you are 7 and have never knit before...even when it is an easy pattern!

We had one child show up with double points, so I stuck a few rubber erasers on the end. We also had one show up with size 13 or 15...so I loaned her some 7's and at the end of the program we moved her knitting onto a pencil to take home.

The kids were very patient, with themselves and with us. They waited their turn for help without whining (which I REALLY appreciated!). We quickly learned some things...kids learn better by doing, not watching. I ended up sitting behind most of them and doing hands on hands teaching. I also learned that the variegated yarn was hard to work with if you started with the blue/purple bit...the yellow made for a better beginning.

Pattern: Cast on 7 stitches. Knit every stitch in every row until you have a bookmark length. Cast off.

Next Tuesday...same thing all over again...

The Only Thing I Did Do

I house sat for an entire week...



...and this is the ONLY thing I actually did do!

It is the sample for the children's beginning knitting program that I am doing in September at the library. An 8" long garter stitch rectangle posing as a bookmark!

And lest you point out that at least I was somewhat productive, I feel it is only fair to admit that I actually knit the bookmark a couple of weeks ago...and that I only wove the two ends in on Thursday night.

Yes...one whole week, and all I did was use a tapestry needle to hide a couple of 3 inch long yarn tails.

Pathetic!

The Camp Dilemma

I am, as of 6:00 pm yesterday, on vacation until 9:00 am on July 16th.

I will spend the majority of this vacation as a counselor at the Northern California Florida College Booster Camp in Felton, CA. I am VERY excited. This is my first time ever being a counselor, and I am also going to be one of four team leaders for sports! (I know, that is totally out of character...athletics are not my strong point...but Director says I only have to cheer/coordinate kids, not actually participate!)

The camp dilemma is...knitting.

The issue isn't whether or not I will knit. I don't think I could actually make it the whole week without knitting. The issues are what I will be knitting and how many projects I should take.

I had planned on taking Blondie's graduation/going away present to work on, but that may get a little large for carting around to sports fields. I also thought I would take a pair of socks, of the plain boring brain-free variety, which would be smaller. Still, neither one is very good for the possibly dirty/dusty conditions. Also, well, I know me. If people see me knitting (which they will), and want to try, I will have to teach. There may be dozens of young folk just begging to be taught. I can't teach them on a sock. I can't let newbies work on Blondie's present. What to do?

I guess I can take several spare sets of size 6 and 7 needles and a bag of dishcloth yarn. It would be cheap, and a dishcloth could feasibly be doable for a kid in a week.

If I take too much yarn I won't have room for clothes. This could be a problem.

(Another problem may be blogging...not sure how that will work out without a computer...although I will have my iphone...maybe we will just have VERY brief entries!)

Another Class To Plan

Miss-A has asked me if I would be willing to do another knitting program, but this time for elementary school children (second grade and up).

I agreed, but with one caveat:

WE HAVE TO LIMIT THE PROGRAM SIZE!!!

There is just no way on earth that I could teach more than 10 elementary schoolers to knit at once. I told her that if the program was a success, then we could schedule subsequent dates as well.

There was also a little concern over the project. It would have to be simple garter stitch. That part was easy enough. But it would also have to be faster than a scarf, since the kids might not have enough patience for something that long. Dishcloths, the ultimate in fast, would not interest the kids either. I came up with several ideas (such as a pencil pouch), but they all required sewing skills. So, I went home and flipped through my pattern binder. I came across a pattern for a bookmark that I made Mom one year. Perfect. The program is in September, and bookmarks are school-ish. We are even providing the yarn (red heart acrylic rainbow variegated), so all the kids need to bring are needles.

I am working on a sample as we speak, or rather...as you read.

It's Been Too Long

I haven't seen BFF since September of 2005. We keep in touch, and are pretty good about calling and writing, but it just isn't the same!

I had a vacation scheduled to go visit Sister in KY, but that ended up falling through. So, with Southwest offering insanely low prices, I decided it was time to go to Denver. (We all know how much I LOVE plane trips...so much knitting time!)

I got in Thursday afternoon, and it was amazing. It was as if I had seen BFF just yesterday, nothing has changed between us.

What HAD changed was Blessing, BFF's daughter. There is a large difference between a nearly 4 month old and a nearly 4 year old.

Blessing was shy at first...it is weird to have your mommy's invisible friend turn out to be a real person...so I did what I normally do:

I woo-ed her with handknits!

I had knit a felt-able purse for her (same pattern as Angel's). I used a chunky yarn that was uncolored. Then we made quite a mess dying it with kool-aid Friday morning while BFF went to a doctor's appointment. We followed the method I got from Knitty. When Blessing had it colored the way she wanted, I sewed on the bangle bracelet handles, and we felted it!

Angel's Birthday

Angel turned 2 today. I generally give kids books rather than hand knits on their birthdays. (Partially because I want to encourage literacy, and partially because, when you are small, hand knits are not exactly exciting to get.)

I made an exception for Angel.



I made her a felted bracelet purse in hot pink. The pattern is from the book Drunk, Divorced, and Covered In Cat Hair. It was very cute (the purse, not the book, although the book is funny...but I digress.). I put in pink kleenex, a mirror, and sparkly lip gloss.

However...even cuter than the purse was the bodysuit I ordered for her:



I LOVE IT!

(Confession: I also got her a book...she loves Fancy Nancy, and they just released a book called Fancy Nancy and the Dazzling Book Report in which Fancy Nancy goes to THE LIBRARY!!!! Honestly, how could I pass it up?I mean, it WAS on sale...)

Finally, Someone is Having A Girl!

That sweater, that lovely peach baby sweater, the one that I have been avoiding like the bubonic plague ever since I realized I had to frog back about 3 rows, is finally going to have to be faced.

All of my friends, up until now, have very accommodatingly all been expecting boys. Until now. Both Dessert and Belle are expecting girls now. Also, Red doesn't know what she is having, but it might be a girl. So the excuse of no baby to knit for is now out the window.

I do have the added excuse of my book with the pattern being in the display case at the library...but while that might keep me from moving forward, it can't really keep me from frogging back. (Besides, the display comes down tomorrow, so not much of an excuse.)

In other words, I am going to have to bite the bullet and frog. The impending babies are just the motivation (gun to the head) that I needed.

I will put it off a few hours longer though. I am babysitting Ark and Fish for Belle tonight, so I think I will wait until then. Maybe being faced with as-yet-unborn Blossom's big brothers will give me an additional kick in the pants.

Itty Bitty Knitty

I am apparently over at Preach and Psych's house often enough that their kids (Wiz, Spaz, and Angel) are totally over me. I am there so often that I even have an assigned seat on their living room floor. It doesn't matter whether I am there for Idol Night, Monday night Bible Study, the Oscars, or just cause, I always sit on the floor to the left of the fireplace, with my back against the wall. And I am almost always knitting. Angel doesn't even come look at me anymore, she just toddles around and occasionally throws a ball at my head.

A few weeks ago I noticed Wiz staring at me. Actually, to be more correct, he was staring at my hands. I could just tell what he was thinking. It was something along the lines of, "Hey, that doesn't look too hard. I bet I could do that!" So, I offered to show him how. I was working on Broseph's scarf at the time. Seeing as how he is their cousin and lives with them, I figured he wouldn't mind. Wiz ended up knitting a few stitches, proving to himself that he could do it, then he lost interest and went back to whatever tv show we had on at the time.

Well, last night was American Idol night, and so I found myself in my spot on the floor working on B1's birthday beret. Psych took Angel upstairs to bed, but Wiz and Spaz were allowed to stay downstairs for a while. (Which was good since I had brought ice cream cake over for them!)This time it was Spaz that was staring at me. All of a sudden he scooted over next to me and just kind of looked at me. I asked him if he wanted to try knitting. He nodded, and I had him crawl into my lap. With great concentration, he knit a stitch. The beret is seed stitch, and I was not about to teach him the difference between knitting and purling. We ended up knitting for a while, him in my lap, and alternating stitches. He did the knits, and I did the purls. It was, I kid you not, one of the sweetest things I have ever done. Blondie even snapped a couple pictures for me.

Eventually he lost interest and went back to his pillow. Still, several times throughout the night he came back to do a couple more stitches. At one point he rummaged around in my bag trying to find something he could do by himself. Unfortunately, I didn't have anything to give him. All I had on me was a lace scarf and my sweater.

After a few minutes of him rummaging, and Wiz watching us knit, I asked the boys if they would like me to bring them stuff to make their own scarves. They both nodded. Wiz, to be exact, actually said "That would be cool." So, next Tuesday I will bring 2 sets of small needles (I think I have some red heart kid's 8's and 9's somewhere), and a skein of blue yarn for Spaz, and a skein of green yarn for Wiz. I will probably go ahead and cast on for them both, and maybe even knit the first two rows or so, before I get there. Then, before we turn idol on, I will show them the knit stitch and set them free. Between Jester, Blondie, and I (all who will by that point be able to knit), we should be able to help them out. Even if they never finish the scarves, or if they only work on them when I am there, its OK. I am just excited that they were excited about it.

Rock Your Socks Off Storytime

I did a pajama time family story hour last night at one of the other library branches. I got to pick any theme I wanted, so I chose...SOCKS!!!

It was a LOT of fun. The program included:

New Socks by Bob Shea

Smitten by David Gordon

Where's My Sock by Joyce Dunbar

"Black Socks" (One of my favorite Girl Scout songs.)

An insanely long time dancing around like crazy people to "At the Hop"

And a flannel board that I did for a poem about socks that I found online.

I wore my crazy Sesame Street Socks and let all of the kids take their shoes off.

We even played a game where they had to put things in order from sheep to sock:

A stuffed sheep

Wool Roving

A Skein of Yarn

A partially knitted sock still on the needles

A finished sock

Some moms nearly had apoplectic fits as their children messed with the needles of the sock-in-progress. I quickly reassured them that it had been knit for demo only, and was not an actual project I was working on. (How crazy are they to think that I would actually let 3 year olds unravel an actual sock sock? Silly non-knitters!)