i'm not dead... i've just been moving to my new apartment! we're finally (mostly) moved in, and we have wireless so you can expect more prolific blogging!

as for actual knitting, though...well, i have nothing interesting to show you. i'm starting the heel flap on kellen's storm sock (take 2) and hoping i have enough yarn this time! although come to think of it, i'm not even sure where the second ball is...somewhere in the rubble of moving, i'm sure. i've also got a couple other wips floating around, but i need to buy more yarn for most of them.

but last night i made a HUGE knitpicks order, so don't worry, i'll be back soon, and with actual pictures to hold your interest!  ¶ 6:31 PM 3 Comments

  quick project so,remember how i wasn't sure if i was going to frog kellen's socks and make them smaller/ better fitting? well...i decided to keep going, finished the heel flap, turned the heel, picked up my gusset stitches and worked the decreases....and then realized i wasn't going to have enough yarn. no problem, just order more, right? well, knitpicks discontinued the Storm colorway of Simple Stripes. dammit! i thought about sending out a plea for help via knitlist and craftster, but then i took it as a sign i needed to rip them out and make them smaller. i just finished the ribbing again. it's slow going.

good thing my patternworks order came last week! i was able to work less than one skein of recycled tibetan silk into this:

it's loosely based on the recycled silk purse from the Knitting Pattern a Day calendar, from august 17th (so i skip ahead, big deal!) i basically just worked in the round on a 12" 10.5 circular, then did 3needle bind off to close it up. the strap is just an i-cord, although i might shorten it because it s t r e t c h e s when my wallet and cell phone are inside. super easy, one day knit. i think some of the girls in my life will be getting one for christmas.

i was really pleased with this skein because most of the recycled silk i've seen has had mostly golds and reds, but this one was full of purples, aquas, bright orange, and blues. they're more subtle when it's worked up but it was fun to knit with.

so, now that the purse is done...back to the socks?  ¶ 10:40 AM 6 Comments

  i finished!
luke's sweatervest is finished! i finished the actual knitting saturday...then delayed the seaming until monday....and the weaving in the 2,000 ends and sewing on buttons until yesterday morning. i'm pretty pleased with it. this is the first piece where i actually paid attention to weaving in ends (i think it took me like 2 hours total) and did mattress stitch instead of, "umwhatever, it won't fall apart" stitching like i usually do.
i even got the stripes to line up reasonably well.
the details:
someone made this vest (scroll down), which is in the book Kids, Kids, Kids, and had it on display at my lys. i fell in love with it, but i didn't want to buy the book for various reasons, so i figured i'd do it myself. i got this pattern, from the lion brand website...but due to my gauge crisis and the fact that luke is bigger than the pattern, i basically had to trek out on my own. but i did it.
it's made with less that one skein of red heart super sport in soft navy, with a small bit of red heart sport in paddy green, yellow, white, and cherry red. knit on size 2 needles (it's DENSE, but he won't mind).

the book that you see in the background of the first picture is My Car by byron barton. i saw this in the library and knew i had to buy it to go along with the vest. not only does luke love books with bright, fun pictures, but:
it features a female mechanic (go binary gender role subversion!)

and ethnic diversity:
i definitely recommend it if you've got a little one who loves cars.  ¶ 7:12 AM 1 Comments

  blah sunday. i've been feeling pretty cranky and uninsipred lately, but that hasn't stopped me from cranking out the stitches.

so, you'll recall the garter stitch cloche i made awhile ago (just scroll down a bit) for my mom's coworker's grandbaby-on-the-way...well, i had left over yarn, so...

the one hour baby booties from stitch n bitch nation. the yarn is my leftover bernant cottontots in little boy blue, held double throughout. the buttons have little blue teddy bears, but i couldn't get a decent close up with my damn camera. but trust me, they're cute.
here's another picture of them, with the hat this time:

and then there's luke's vest. i'm actually reall surprised that i've been so almost-monogamous with this project. the whole reason why i started so early (this is a CHRISTMAS present, here, people!) is because i thought i would avoid working on it like the plague. don't get me wrong, i think it's adorable, but it's sportweight acrylic on size 2 needles. and intarsia. and i had to do a lot of math to alter the pattern i'm using "as a loose guideline." but i'm pretty proud of myself for not shoving it in a corner until december. oh, but the sick irony is, i didn't want to shell out all the money to buy the book that has the origional pattern i was inspired by because it was like $20 and i didn't care much for the other pattern, so i figured, "i'm not scared of math! i can make my own charts! screw the book that has it all layed out neatly for me!" ........well, now knitpicks has to book for $10. of course.
but no matter. i've gotten thus far on my own:

back done? check! left front? check! right front? almost...
oh, and for kellen's storm socks? well, they're turning out to be a teeeeny bit too loose (i should have worked about 4 fewer stitches...my insufficient swatching lied) and it's really annoying me. still, i'm working on the heel flap. . . will i frog the whole thing? will i push on, knowing that my boy will appreciate loose socks anyway? your guess is as good as mine.  ¶ 11:48 AM 4 Comments