Henry's Hat

The weather is starting to get cold here in Baltimore so I whipped up a new hat for Henry. And he actually consented to wear it in the car to daycare one day last week.





It is the Basic Hat Pattern from The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns by Ann Bud.

I used about 1/2 a skein of Farmhouse Yarns Lumpy Bumpy Yarn by Charlene. I love this yarn! I still have about 3 skeins of it left, in blue, green and toffee. I might make myself a hat next.

Actually it was less than 1/2 a skein. I made some icord ties that expand into a small triangle to fasten on to the hat. I'm thinking he won't always be so happy to wear the hat and the ties will help it stay on during the really cold weather. But I'll fasten those later if I need to.

A very quick and rewarding project.

Grab bags!

I have gone crazy over this easy bag pattern. It's a great fabric stash buster. I think it's the perfect size for a sock in progress or another small project. Plus, it could double as a little evening bag. The pattern calls for batting, which would make a stiffer, heavier bag. But I prefer my project bags to be as smooshy as possible so I can stuff them into a bigger bag.



I sent the purple one to my secret pal. I gave the turqoise one to the owner of my LYS, which is sadly closing.

The black one is mine. And I'll be making many more of these!

Secret Pal Final Package

I got my last Secret Pal 14 package this week and Wow! it was a good one! My spoiler was Cassandra.



I got:

Two skeins of her hand dyed yarn in blues. Love them! You can see her items for sale on ebay.

A pretty red project bag that will be perfect for socks.

Some treats to eat and some treats for the bath. I love grapefruit and bergamot scented bath products and she got me two soaps and some bath salts. I am already using, and loving, one of the soaps.

Thank you so much, Cassandra! You really spoiled me.

How many handknits can you wear at a U2 concert?

Answer: at least 4!



G and went to the U2 concert in Foxboro, Mass., last Sunday, Sept. 20. We drove up to Connecticut for the weekend. Spent some time with his family and some time with my brother, SIL, niece and nephew. My MIL babysat Sunday night and G, my BIL and his fiance went to the show.

We arrived early to tailgate with sandwiches, grapes, chips and wine. We played some bean-bag toss. We even popped into a bar that had a U2 cover band called 2U playing. They were really good! Not as good as the real thing, of course.

It was a perfect night, crisp and cool but not cold. The band rocked.

I wore:

A hat I made in the car ride up.
My pink stole.
My Dashing mitts.
My purple socks.

Fun times! Our next concert will be indoors, so no handknits. We're seeing KISS in DC in a couple of weeks. G is a huge fan. I am ... not. But I think the show will be fun all the same. He scored tickets in the second row right in front of Gene Simmons. We are going to take the day off and take Henry to DC. Hopefully it will be nice and we can go to the zoo. Then G's aunt will babysit while we go to dinner and the concert. I think it will be a fun day.

Organizing

I couldn't stand it anymore. So last night, after work while H napped, I attacked my knitting and craft area and organized it!

I gathered up all my knitting magazines from around the house and put them in magazine holders. I couldn't find two. Hope they turn up soon. I was thinking of finally starting the Spring 2007 Knitscene cover sweater, Kenobi Jacket by Norah Gaughan. Oh well, it will turn up eventually.

I organized my yarn. I now have enough sock yarn for it to get its own container. I have three large plastic tubs, plus the two big, heavy plastic bags that my Boppys came in (while I was nursing, I found it essential to have two: one for upstairs and one for downstairs). The bags are perfect for holding yarn! So my sock yarn is one and the other holds odd balls and partial skeins. I have one tub for shawls and scarves, one for sweaters and one for more sweaters and roving. Yes, I own some roving even though I don't spin. Some of it is from a needle felting kit I bought but there are two new braids that I had to buy because I love the colors. I just needed them for inspiration!

I also have one small, heavy plastic bag that a pregnancy stomach wedge pillow came in that I used for my cotton and baby yarn.

I also organized, in file folders, my loose patterns and the patterns that I've printed from the Internet.

The final piece of the organization was putting projects in project bags.

With a 14-month old, a full-time job, a house to clean, dinners to cook, a yard to cultivate, plus a moderate amount of personal and business travel, I find it essential to have a variety of projects in different stages that I can grab and go for different purposes, whether it's knit night or the dentist or a long phone meeting or a trip. I need plenty of plain projects that I can knit without consulting a pattern. I want some more complicated ones for when I have an hour or two to sit. When I have just two or three projects going, somehow I always end up at complicated spot in each of them at the same time. Maybe it's just turning the heel, but I can't do that while on a phone meeting because I can't count and give my full attention to the meeting. Starting something new always takes more time and concentration than working on something in progress, too. So, while my ideal number of WIPs is 3-4, I find it's better to start a few more than that all at once when I have a big block of time so I can grab and go later.

This whole organization project helped me find the perfect sock yarn in my stash to make socks for my grandpa. And I dug out the purple malabrigo that I bought a couple of years ago to make a shawl for my grandma.

I pulled out some sweater yarn to start two new projects and found an old garter stitch baby blanket I started before my nephews (now almost three) were born. It's pink and I figured that with two babies on the way one of them was bound to be a girl, right? Wrong! I do have a new niece now, so I'm thinking of making it a small doey. (A "doey" is what my family calls those small blankets that others refer to as "loveys.")

But right now I am going to go start a basic hat. I need a good stockinette in the round project for my weekend trip. We are driving to Connecticut tomorrow and going to see U2 in the Boston area on Sunday night!

Mini Break!

We are headed to South Carolina, near Charleston, for a long weekend. It's been a long week. Henry got his first ear infection and was home from daycare for a few days. I'm on deadline at work and could not take real PTO. I took PTO but I still had to work in order to meet the deadlines. Plus, I was trying to work ahead so I could be off while on vacation. So I was trying to get as much work done as possible during naptime and after dinner. Needless to say, I am worn out!

Still have a ton of work to finish up before we can leave today. And I keep thinking of things to add to the already-packed car!

I am hoping to find a yarn shop in Charleston. I already have one idea, thanks to Doris of the Baltimore Knitting Meetup group (that is no longer on meetup, just Ravelry now) and I want to try the Chocolate Coca-Cola cake she told me about!

I've got two socks in progress packed. Maybe I'll get some pictures of them on the beach or by the pool. We'll see. Vacation with a baby doesn't leave much time for knitting.

Baby Knits

I've got a baby (though he is starting to turn into a toddler) but I don't do a ton of baby knitting.

True, I've made him a few items: a blanket, two hats, and two sweaters. I've also got a vest in the works and want to make him a new hat for this winter.

But, I don't knit for other babies. I could knit for my nieces and nephews, but so far have only made one hat for one niece. Maybe it is because my family is so large and I fear that if I knit for one, then I'll have to knit for everyone at every occasion and then I would be constantly knitting for my family and never for me! I do knit for others. But I do so in a very limited way. I don't try to knit something for every family member for every Christmas and birthday. With five brothers, three sisters-in-law, five nieces/nephews, two grandparents and dozens of cousins, aunts and uncles, I couldn't do it. I'd have to open a small knitting business to cover them all. And that is just MY family. G's family adds a few more people to the mix.

But I do choose a few people to knit for each year. Last year, I made cowls for my sisters-in-law.

I also made scarves for G's dad and step-mom and a shawl for his mother.

And I made a hat for my youngest brother when he requested "a super cool hand knit hat" to wear at college. How could I say no to that?! (No picture, I'm afraid. I was so excited to finish it and send it to him that I forgot. And good luck getting a college boy to send you a picture of him modeling a hat (I did ask).

This year, I making a scarf for G's aunt who lives in DC and has been so generous with her time in the past year. She has cooked for us and babysat on several occasions.

I do like knitting for others. And I do like knitting for babies. Baby stuff is so tiny and dear and it goes quick! I think that if I had more knitting time, I would always have a baby item on the go for some future relative. But I really enjoy knitting most of all for me. And I don't feel bad about that. Well, I do sometimes feel bad about it: I would love to knit for everyone. If I had more knitting time, I would. But my way works for me. When I feel really compelled to knit for someone, then I do. Sometimes, I'll see a yarn and think that it belongs to so and so. Sometimes I just think so and so is so lovely, I'd like to make her something lovely. Last year, I fell in love with Lumpy Bumpy Yarn by Charlene and had to buy several skeins of it. I justified the cost by making it into cowls for my SILs.



That said, my favorite baby items to knit are hats. They are so quick and so cute on the little ones. I don't have a favorite hat pattern, but I did just make this one in a toddler/kid size by casting on 80 stitches instead of 100. I think I'll make another one. It's easy and the ribbing makes it easy to fit lots of different heads. It looks soooo cute on H even though it is not intended for him.



(Also, you can see his favorite toy, the monkey. He grabs that monkey, puts its arms over his head and walks or crawls all over the place with Monkey hanging on. Fun!)

Storms and a Shawl

We've had some big storms here last week. On Friday, I took myself out to lunch and made it home just in time before the downpour started. I even had time to snap this photos on my phone.

Looking West from my house:



Looking East from my house:



I was glad to be inside my house when the rain started, all nice and cosy. I even got a bit cold and had to put on my pink lace shawl. I don't think I put up a picture about this yet. I finished it in the spring. It is the Hunter's Safety Stole. I purchased the yarn (Black Bunny Fibers) and pattern at Stitches East 2006.



This photo shows how long it is, along with how messy my hair (G thought it looked tossled and sexy. Seeing it in this photo, it just looks a mess) and couch are. But I had to include it because I love that H is imitating me in the lower left corner with his arms stretched out. "Mama, I love you so much!"



Great, easy pattern. Beautiful yarn. Lovely stole that will be a great layering piece this winter. I can use it as a scarf and unfold it when I need a bit more on my shoulders.

Good Mail Day

The past week has been a big rough around here. Nothing huge, just exhausting. Last Thursday G came home from work with a fever and the aches. He promptly took himself to the doctor Friday morning because someone in his office had the swine flu.

But he tested negative (thank goodness) and was diagnosed with "just a virus." That virus turned out to be particularly nasty. He was so sore that he could barely walk and couldn't lift things. So that meant I was on H duty full time over the weekend. And on grocery duty and cooking duty. To make it worse, H was getting some molars and wasn't especially happy himself.

So by Monday, I was pretty tired and starting to get sick myself. But when the mail arrived with the Knitpicks catalog and a package from my Secret Pal, I was very excited! Two knitting things in one day!

Here's a photo.



I love everything. I needed new face clothes. And these are just perfect for me! I adore the pink.

The blue yarn is from her hand dye business. It's merino and I just love the color.

I'm not sure yet what I am going to do with the teal cotton yarn, but I am thinking it could make a cute dress for my new niece!

Plus it all arrived smelling so nice from the sachet.

Thanks, Pal! I really love it all!

Rhinebeck, maybe?

I am excited. Last week I was checking out the NY Sheep and Wool Festival Web site and saw all the cool kid activities. I showed G and we talked about possibly going this year. G went to school at Vassar in Poughkeepsie and he loves the area.

We're not going to decide until closer to the date, which I realize might make it impossible to go b/c the hotel rooms in the area could be sold out by then. But I am still excited. Even if we don't go this year, I think we'll go some year, which is very exciting!

I was very envious while reading all the reports from Sock Summit. I am craving a knitting event!

From Boston to St John (USVI!) Morning Glory Wrap

Behold, my From Boston to St. John (USVI!) Morning Glory Wrap.

I cast on July 6, 2008. The day before I went in to labor with H. I hoped that if I started a new project, my baby would be born a few days early. And it worked!

This is worked in two halves and grafted in the center. During my maternity leave, I knit the first half. Then I picked up the second half during the spring of 2009. I finished the knitting a few days after my son’s first birthday!

The pattern is fun. And pretty. But the stitch pattern is worked on both sides. There is no purl back "break" row. Instead, you've got things like purl three together through the back loops. AND and a section where you end in mid repeat. But the first few times you do those rows, you aren't sure where you end. I mean, the pattern doesn't specify what stitches to end on. So if one messed up a row or two before, it wouldn't be apparent right away that one had the wrong number of stitches. And tinking (and swearing) would occur.

I did a lot of tinking and ripping, especially while I worked on this late at night as a new mom. Probably not the best pattern to try when your brain is fried from lack of sleep, but I needed something to challenge me at the same time. I needed to proove to myself that I could still knit with a baby.

It went smoother once H was a month or two old and napped alone more and and played on his activity mat, batting at the toys. There were mornings when I was able to knit for an hour or so. It was such a sweet time. We were on the back porch, with lovely breezes coming in and nothing more pressing to do than nurse him and then knit while I watched him play or sleep. I'll always remember those lovely, free months when I wear this shawl.

As I said, I finished the first half on my maternity leave and then put it down when I went back to work. At that time, I switched to more basic knitting that I could pick up and work on without a lot of thought not knowing if I would have 10 minutes or two hours of free time.

But I picked it up again this past spring when I had longer blocks of time again. H didn't need to nurse every two hours anymore. He took longer daytime naps. A few times G took him to the grocery store and let me have an hour or so alone at home. I think I even brought it to knit night once, but it's not great social knitting.

A note about the shawl's name. It is officially the Morning Glory Wrap by Anne Hanson.

But I started calling it the From Boston to St. John (USVI) Morning Glory Wrap after a song on the "baby soothe" playlist on my podcast. Before H was born, G spent a lot of time making playlists for various situations. The baby soothe one has 100 or so songs and we put it on in the evenings while we all hung out in our bedroom. I listened to it many times while nursing H and one song stuck out to me. Boston and St. John's by Great Big Sea is a such a lovely, soft song. But one lyric in particular always confused me.

"There isn't that much ocean between Boston and St. John's."

Huh? I thought. There's the entire Atlantic coast and then the Caribbean between Boston and St John, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. That seemed like a lot of ocean to me. So one night I mentioned this to G and he said, "um, it's the one in Canada?" Of course, the St. John in New Brunswick!

So back to the shawl. It is done in two colors of Briar Rose Fibers Wistful (gorgeous alpaca, merino and silk yarn) that I bought at the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool festival in Sept. 2007. I bought both the yarn and pattern after I saw a sample in the Briar Rose booth. But they didn't have two skeins of the yarn in the same colorways (well, no they did, but in a mauve/magenta color that I wasn't me). So I picked out two skeins in blues, greens with a bit of tan. Only one was more navy and other more turqoise. The owner suggested I use one for the netting border and the other for the main pattern. So this is what I did. And while I worked on the shawl in the evenings in my room and listened to this song and thought of the colors of the ocean near Boston and near St. John, USVI, and thought the colors in this shawl captured those two waters nicely. And thus the name came into being (along with this long story).

I love this shawl! It is probably the most complicated thing that I've knit so far. And I love the memories that are knit up into it. I can't wait to wear it this fall when the temperature cools. In the meantime, I still have to block it!

New Socks

I finished a pair of vanilla socks. The yarn is Kona superwash sock dyed by blogger KnitPastis. She had a blog contest a few years ago and I won! I long ago used up all the other goodies she sent. I actually started a pair of Child's First Socks with this yarn back in 2007. But I very soon after got pregnant and stopped knitting because it made me nauseous. Fast forward to 2009. These days I need lots of plain projects with easy knitting that I can pick up on the go and don't need to waste precious knitting time figuring out where I left off. So the plain socks are my project these days. Well, that is when I only have a few minutes here and there to knit. When I know that I have an hour or more, I'll pick up a more complicated project like the Morning Glory Wrap (which will get its own post later).

I love this yarn! KnitPastis did a beautiful job dyeing it. The base is luscious. So happy to have another pair of hand-knit socks to wear this fall!

Secret Pal Goodies

Last week, I got my first package from my Secret Pal. Yeah for yarn goodies!



There were two skeins of Knit Picks Gloss, which is 70% merino and 30% silk. And it feels so lovely and soft. I love the chocolate brown color, too.

Speaking of chocolate, there was also a candy bar that I am savoring. I had a few bites this weekend and a few more right now!

Also, to go with the socks, a pretty pattern called Country Girl Socks.

Finally, a cute keychain with crocheted sweater rounded out the package.

Thank you, Pal!

I have my first box ready to go out to my pal today. I guess I should take pictures of that, too.

Random Things

For those of you on Facebook, you may recall that the 25 random things note was going around a few months ago. I need to post more to my blog--and I have things to photograph!--but haven't gotten to them yet. I think I'll have time this weekend though.

Anyway, I did this random things list several months ago on Facebook, and just realized, duh!, I could share here too. I wrote this in February, so I've add parentheses in a few spots to bring it up to date.

Here's a bunch of random things, some about me, some not.

1. I went to Catholic school from grade 1-3 and 5-8. For some reason grade 4 was public and it was in a building right next to the Catholic school. We all went over to the Catholic school once a week (Dyersville friends: is that right? More often?) for religion class.

2. This was in Dyersville, Iowa, home to the movie Field of Dreams. It was filmed after my family had moved away.

3. I don’t like the expressions “babywearing” or “wear your baby.” But I do love the concept. I carried H around in a sling, moby wrap and imitation baby bjorn thing a lot when he was smaller (and weighed less!). He loved it. But talking about wearing a baby just … creeps me out.

4. I like pickles a lot. G doesn’t.

5. I used to eat sand when I was a baby. On our recent trip [in Jan. not really so recent anymore] H ate sand. I think it’s genetic.

6. I’ve taken lots of dance classes as an adult, including ballroom, ballet, flamenco and belly.

7. I don’t use the terminal comma in lists.

8. Speaking of grammar, I hate how the overuse of “myself” has become so common in the last five years or so. As in, “Gary invited Jane and myself to the party.” It should be “Jane and me.” You wouldn’t say “Gary invited myself to the party,” right?

9. I wear my hair in pigtails a lot.

10. Somehow the hospital where I gave birth had my age wrong. Some paperwork said I was 31, when I was actually 32. But I was so out of it that I thought maybe they’re right and I’m wrong! After all, they probably plugged my birth date into some software program that spit out my age. How could it be wrong? I had to do the math to double check. I was bummed to discover that, yes, I was actually 32 [now 33].

11. I don’t know what I want for my birthday yet. That’s OK though cause it’s not til the end of May. [I figured it out eventually. I asked for, and got, a craft area set up in the basement. Now I have my sewing machine set up, a table for cutting fabric, all my yarn and fabric neatly (well...) stored. It was the best gift!]

12. There is a mattress in my office.

13. There’s also a pot of calla lilies (G’s V-day gift to me) and a baby activity center that a bunch of my coworkers pitched in to buy. H loves it! (Thanks, guys!) [The calla lilies are no longer in my office--but they did last from Valentine's Day until May! The activity center is in the basement now too as H long outgrew it.]

14. I once hiked to the top of a mountain that Cezanne painted.

15. I am tired of winter fruit. I want nectarines, cherries, berries and watermelon. [I am thoroughly enjoying my summer fruits! And I never tire of them.]

16. I am terrible about remembering people’s birthdays.

17. In the latest episode of Top Chef, Fabio wore a pink pashmina scarf. I thought that was cool. [this one is outdated too. This was during the last season of Top Chef. Am really enjoying Top Chef Masters right now.]

18. I don’t think that G would wear a pink, pashmina scarf. But he does wear the blue, merino/cashmere/alpaca blend scarf that I made for him.

19. I would like to be a judge at a pie-making contest.

20. We call H “burrito” a lot. It’s not because he tastes like a burrito (although he did sort of LOOK like a burrito when we used to swaddle him). And it’s not just because he’s great and burritos are great. It’s because we call him Henrito and that sorta rhymes with burrito. So we just started calling him Henrito Burrito and then just Burrito.

21. G really likes to watch funny cat videos. Thus, when we first started dating we watched a lot of America’s Funniest Videos. A friend couldn’t believe that: I don’t think she would have dated a guy who watched AFV. But I say: You can’t go wrong with funny cat videos.

22. I love G’s laugh. Sometimes, I’ll be feeding H upstairs in our bedroom and hear G laughing downstairs in the office (he’s probably watching funny cat videos online). Just hearing him makes me laugh out loud, too, and I tell H he’s got a funny father.

23. I like it that G sometimes calls me by family nickname of Resa.

24. I wore flip flops (granted, they were elegant flip flops) at my wedding and my brothers set up a game of beer pong. The party was in my parents’ backyard. I thought it was beautiful: June in Wisconsin, tons of flowers, white tents, fairy lights, candles, good music, simple but good food. Five cakes (we got five small ones with different flavors instead of one big, fancy wedding cake). I’m not a beer pong player, but I think it’s cool that the guys played.

25. I have 88 unheard podcasts on my itunes. Most of them are knitting podcasts. [oddly enough, this one is still accurate!]

26. Every week, G reads the Savage Love column to me.

27. I call blankets, especially the extra cozy ones like my mom’s quilts, doeys. (sounds like doe eese). It’s a word I made up when I was a kid.

28. I watched Man on Wire last night. It was good. [well, I watched Man on Wire several months ago now. But I still think it was good.]

29. In the town of Westford, Wis., a goat broke into a home and ate a cake. http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/438982

30. This list is too long. But I’m not cutting anything out.

Happy Birthday, Burrito!

Today is my little burrito's first birthday.

We celebrated with G's family on Friday. I made an apple cake with maple frosting. It was so good. I will definitely be baking it again. And I will be doing more baking from scratch in the future.

As you can see he really enjoyed the cake!



Other things he likes: dogs, melon, climbing up the stairs, balls, crawling away from me while he laughs, trashing my office and smiling at his mama and dada.

And here he is in a year of knits.

In his Yoda costume for Halloween:



And more recently "petting" Yoda:


In his winter hat:


In the Duffle Coat Sweater. Picture was taken in December.


No recent pictures of him in knitting. But I leave you with this adorable one. Ah! My baby.

Secret Pal 14 Questions

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely not like? I like soft yarns. I love wools and alpaca, the softer the better. Some yarns I love include: Dream in Color, Malabrigo, Blue Sky Alpacas. I like to try different yarns and dyers. I am not anti acrylic: I'll use it for baby items. But it doesn't get me very excited! I don't like scratchy wools for garments, but think they are great for felting.
   

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? I have a couple of fabric needle holders. And the binder that came with my knitpicks options.
   

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? I've been knitting for about 6 years, I think. My mom taught me to knit in my 20s. I can't remember what year exactly. I'm an intermediate knitter, I'd say.
   

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? no
   

5. What’s your favorite scent? I love grapefruit and bergamot.
   

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy? Yes! I don't think there is a candy I don't like. I love chocolate. I love fruity candy. I love licorice-y candy. Yum, candy.
   

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin? I sew. For mother's day and my birthday, my husband created a craft corner for me in the basement. Now I have a spot to sew again and I've been making small project bags. I don't spin. But ... there is this braid of roving at my LYS that I loving. So I am wondering how long I will resist. I don't really have time for spinning right now b/c I have a one-year-old. Some day I want to spin, but when he's older. At least that's what I tell myself. :)
   

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) I like folk, some rock and pop, oldies, opera, salsa, and some hip hop. Some of my favorite groups right now: HEM, Josh Ritter, Damien Rice, Kathleen Edwards, U2, Shakira. I can play MP3s.
   

9. What’s your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can’t stand? I love blue, green, pink, red, brown ... I don't love (or even like) fushia.
   

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? It's me, my husband and our baby boy (he's actually turning 1 this week! How did that happen so fast?) right now. No pets.
    

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? Yes to all.
    

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? I always a sock or two going. With the kid, I need an easy to pick up and put down project. A plain sock is perfect. But I also love to knit lace so I usually will have something more complicated to work on when I am alone, which doesn't happen a lot lately.
    

13. What are you knitting right now? I have two socks in progress. A plain stockinette one and Outside In from the latest Knitty. I am also working on the Morning Glory Wrap by Anne Hanson. I've been working on that for exactly a year. I started in last year on the Sunday of 4th of July weekend while I waited to go into labor. I hoped that if I started a complicated shawl a few days before my due date, I would go into labor a few days early and I did! I have just a few rows left!
    

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? Love to!
    

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? I prefer circulars. I love my Knitpicks Options. Haven't tried the Harmonys yet. Bamboo makes my hands hurt. But wood doesn't for some reason. I have a few pairs of Lantern Moon wood circulars and one set of DPNs that I love.
    

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? Yes, both.
    

17. How old is your oldest UFO? Hmmm, not too old really. But I am probably forgetting something. I do have a baby blanket from a few years that I never finished. But if I don't intend to finish it does it count? Probably, yes. OK, so about 3 years old. The next oldest is just a few months old. It's a vest I am knitting for baby H. It's almost done but he won't need it until Fall, so I stopped, just temporarily of course!
    

18. What is your favorite holiday? What winter holiday do you observe? I love Thanksgiving because my whole family gets together then. We celebrate Christmas in the winter.
    

19. Is there anything that you collect? Just yarn and fabric. Well, I guess I also collect funky (ie big, bold or unusual) necklaces.
    

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? I have a lot of knitting books. Many that I have never even used. Three that I don't have but need for my queu are: More Big Girl Knits, Knit 2 Together and Simple Style. I'd also like to own the Harmony Guide:Knit and Purl. And I'd like to try the Knit Picks Harmony wood needles, especially the DPNs. I subscribe to Interweave Knits.
    

21. Are there any new techniques you’d like to learn? I'd like to learn to knit socks toe up. But I love my DPNs.
    

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? Yes, I love to knit socks. My feet are 10.5 inches long. 8.5 inches around at the foot. And 10.5 inches around at the ankle.
    

23. When is your birthday? May 28.
    

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what’s your ID? I am knitsinpublic.
    

Something to show!

So I downloaded a new iphone app that lets me upload photos I take on my phone to flickr. And now I have something to show! (I wish there was a Blogger app that would let me take photos and upload them via the phone directly to Blogger. But hey, at least I'll finally get some photos on to Flickr now. For some reason taking the pics with my camera, downloading them to the computer, uploading them to flickr and then pasting into Blogger is a huge pain. Too many steps. I need fewer steps.)

So anyway, here's a pair of super plain basic socks I made. The yarn is Storm Moon Knits Twilight Sock in Purple Rain. Love this yarn! Love the colors and the stripes and the yarn base. I knit on US size 2, unusual for me who can easily knit socks on size 0s (not that I knit them easily on size 0s, bu that I knit loose and size 0s are usually my best bet). So size 2s were awesome!



Bought the yarn at Spinster Yarns & Fibers in Baltimore, Maryland. She had some Storm Moon Knits left the last time I was there, but maybe only in worsted weight. The dyer is no longer dying so this is hard to come by yarn.

And here is a progress shot of my Morning Glory Wrap by Anne Hanson. I started this the day before I went into labor last July. I was hoping that starting a new shawl would inspire the baby to be born that day. I wasn't far off! This is knit in two halves and then grafted in the center. This is the second half. Almost done! I knit the first half during my maternity leave while baby H napped and played on his activity nap. I had to put it aside for several months b/c I didn't have the energy or awaked-ness for the pattern. It's not really hard. But you do have to pay attention on both sides. And there are some nasty purl three togethers through the back loop. Ugh.



So there has been much tinking and ripping, but since I decided to only knit on it when I had time alone, it's gone much better.

Eh, cell phone pictures are kind of crap aren't they? Still better than no photos.

Secret Pal 14

I signed up for my first Secret Pal swap. Now I need to start blogging again! I've been wanting to do a swap for a while and decided to take the plunge.

Anyone else in?

I've been knitting a lot. But it's somehow too much to get pictures taken, off the camera, uploaded to Flickr and then posted here.

Since Jan., I've completed a hat, some socks and a shawl.

On the needles: a shawl I started the day before I went into labor last July. It's knit in two halves and then grafted at the center. I knit the first half while on maternity leave and picked up the second half this spring. Almost done, but I might run out of yarn.

Just started the Outside In pattern from the summer Knitty. I am using Lime and Violet Intentions yarn in "balance." So soft, so pretty.

I've got a vest for H in the works, but not do motivated to finish b/c he won't wear it until Fall. And I've got some basic socks in the works too.

It's all very pretty! I hope to get some pics soon. I've actually been posting pics to Facebook more than here b/c it's super easy to take a pic with my iPhone and upload to Facebook (granted the photos aren't the best quality, but it's better than nothing). If you want to connect with me a Facebook, add me as a friend! If you're not sure how to find me, search Theresa + Baltimore and I'll pop up. I don't want to list my last name on this blog.

Quickie

I've been busy. Neglecting the blog. Am spending all my time on Facebook, Ravelry,
Twitter, and Plurk (tawitham for those two if you want to chat there. though on Twitter I pretty much just lurk b/c I am following and followed by some work people and I don't want to piss off knitters with work stuff and work people with knitting stuff. Should probably do a separate account.).

Here's some stuff I knit last fall.



Whoops. I actually knit that hat last spring/summer before Henry was born. But here he is finally modeling it. Now it's almost too small. It's Reversible hat by Debbie Bliss in the book

Essential Baby. The yarn is two skeins of Blue Sky Alpacas Skinny Dyed Cotton. I have some leftovers of both colors, enough to make some stripey baby/kid socks someday. Yarn purchased at Spinster Yarns & Fibers in Baltimore, Maryland.

This is a simple cowl I made in November. I knit three other cowls for Christmas gifts. Pics taken, but not loaded onto Flickr yet. Wish I could zap them directly from camera to Flickr, but my tiny camera does not have such awesome capabilities. This is a very basic cowl modeled after

knit COWL by Sophia Sallas-Brookwel, which is a free Ravelry download. I fell in love with this yarn-- Farmhouse Yarns Lumpy Bumpy Yarn-- at Spinsters and several skeins came home with me (and were eventually knit up into Christmas cowls). I have more. Might make some mittens with the leftovers. I love, love, love this yarn.

Finally, my Roza's Socks by Grumperina in the Spring 07 IK. Yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy in Chinatown Apple purchased at Lovelyarns in Baltimore. Great yarn, great pattern. Love!