You Spin Me Right Round, Baby, Right Round

I put the large bag of yarn for the girls' Pinwheel Sweaters on my coffee table and let it encourage me to finish projects so I could get them on the needles. It taunted me all day and night on Friday, but it worked and I finished my Sock Party sock in the evening. I also jazzed up a pair of flip flops for a swap I'm in - just a little crochet and some fun fur. Woo hoo.


With projects finished, I tried to cast on to the DPNs for Pinwheel Sweater 1, but it was really late and I was pretty sleepy. I did it on Saturday morning instead. Thanks to Alison deciding to lollygag her way through cleaning her room - I got a lot of knitting done on Saturday. And even more on Sunday. I'm really impressed with how quickly I'm moving through this sweater.


I've already started working on the garter stitch rounds and only have one more color change to complete. Woo hoo. The provisional cast on for the armholes gave me a little trouble, the directions were vague and confusing for me. Thanks to the craftster.org KAL that Adrienne started I didn't need to drown in my frustration. I used the link Adrienne had provided and her pics from her blog to figure it out. Luckily all the little people were napping when I got to that point.

My progress has seemed slow today, the rounds have way more stitches than before and I have to purl ever other one (which I do slowly). I'm hoping to finish the body and start on the edging by tomorrow night when I hope to visit the Gurls Who Purl.

A Motley Crue

After two days of looking and visits to two different craft stores, I've assembled the needles necessary to start the girls' Pinwheel sweaters. Visit 1 to Michael's yielded no needles, not one of the 5 needles were there. It's very frustrating to look at a shelf and see sz. 7, sz. 8, sz. 10 - like size 9 doesn't even exist. Visit 2 to Joann's got me several different brands of needles made out of different stuff. I'm hoping that this will not mess up the gauge.


And my yarn arrived yesterday. It's very pretty. I haven't taken it out of the bag yet because I'd really like to finish up my Sock Party Sock first. Gusset done, we're on the fast-track to the toe. :)


Since I appreciate honesty, I'm going to be honest with myself and you, gentle reader. I joined the Summer of Socks with the greatest of intentions of knitting tons of little socks all summer long. But then I had a baby and the thought involved in sock knitting and the amount of time I can spend on them are just beyond my current ability.

I will complete my Sock Buddy's sock and have high hopes of completing maybe one pair in preparation for Christmas by Labor Day. Hopefully.

Emmy goes to SnB

Last night Emily joined us for our regular SnB meeting. It was fun and everyone got to hold her and love on her, which she loves. I knit about another inch on my French Market Bag between knitting and going to see Jimmy Neutron with Ali earlier in the day. I don't feel like I'm getting anywhere with it - very frustrating.

The secret sock is coming along nicely - I'm officially mid-gusset now and it's going pretty quickly when I work on it. I need to go shopping soon for some package goodies.


Adrienne brought her Pinwheel Sweater last night and I love it even more in real life. We discussed how I can make it a pinch bigger for Ali so that it fits for a while. Hopefully my Priority Mail shipment of yarn will arrive today - if it does, the French Market Bag may go on hiatus for a while. :)

Knitting at a Playdate

I get a ton of knitting accomplished when Alison is being entertained by others. So on Friday, when we headed to the mall playground to see some new friends, I reached inch 4 of the body of my French Market Bag. I'm really enjoying working with the Cascade 220 I picked for this project, it's really smooth.

In other knitting news, Adrienne started a Knit-a-long for the Pinwheel sweater on Elann. When she first posted about it I looked up the pattern and loved it. I especially loved that the sizing was so flexible. But I have a lot of projects waiting to be knit, so I resisted. That is until she posted her yarn. It looked so lovely. I needed it. So I ordered all the yarn yesterday to make 2, one for Alison and one for Emily - and they'll match. :)

One of the great things about being born in July, especially early in July, is that you haven't missed much of the Tour de France. And what you did miss, your daddy can catch you up on. But only if you promise to watch intently until the 23rd.


Mid heel on my Summer Sock Party friend's sock. Here's my Perez Hilton-esque secretive photo.

$2.50 Will Get You a Lot of Flair

Over the weekend, Emily and I made our way to Sip and Knit to return some yarn, get some needles and unexpectedly make a lot of ladies' day. The store was pretty busy and she was a hit with everyone we encountered.

My friend, April, is expecting a little baby girl in the next month or two and after receiving such a wonderful gift set from Adrienne for Emily, I figured I'd try to duplicate it. While at the store, I called Nicole to double-check how much yarn Adrienne had said she used and she reminded me that Adrienne had run into some problems with this particular pattern (Miss Dashwood). I took this under advisement, but bought the yarn anyway. When I got home I looked up the pattern and it turns out that it's not too different from the cupcake hat I'd made for Nicole - so I got started.

Here's where I'm at. Something has gone horribly wrong with the number of stitches I should have, but I've made it to the bobble row and the bobbles are turning out okay so I may just keep trucking.


I've also been steadily picking up ye olde French Market bag whenever my hands get a free moment. We're well into the contrasting color stripe.

And today I put one box of Fuschia Rit dye to use with one plain jane package of Gerber cloth diapers (i.e. the world's best burp clothes) and a bunch of rubber bands to make some super-girly burp clothes. Now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that I didn't permanently dye my washing machine hot pink - Wayne will be none to happy if his not-cycling clothes come out hot pink.


In sock news - My Jaywalker has been sadly ignored. However, the yarn for my Secret Sock Party Buddy's socks has arrived, so I will start that one soon. But I won't post pics so that it stays secret.

A little progress

We went to the mall this morning so Ali could burn off some big sister energy and between a few stolen moments over the last couple nights and this much longer knitting session, I've gotten a little more finished on my French Market Bag.


And I've started the heel on my first Jaywalker sock. I was a little confused at first by the k1, slip 1 pattern, but after checking out a couple people's photos of finished socks, it seems legit. I'll keep trucking along.

Even more exciting, I've figured out what I'm going to knit up for my Sock Party buddy and instead of schlepping us all over to the yarn store, I ordered the yarn online today and got a great deal. :) In the interest of absolute secrecy, you won't see these posted here until she receives them.

Emily kicking

Emily kicking

Watch the video

Some little chickie playtime at one week old.

This video was originally shared on blip.tv by megaknits with a No license (All rights reserved) license.

Sweet Feet

When you have inspiration like this:

It's hard not to knit a little when you should be napping. :) Here's a little pair of One-Hour Booties from SnB:Nation, modeled by the super-relaxed Emily.



If only my Summer Sock Party buddy had newborn size feet, I'd feel a little less overwhelmed. But I'm totally counting these for the Summer of Socks. Hooray, one pair finished! :)

A Little Less Conversation . . .

A little more knitting?

Not quite. We're all still adjusting to having a baby who likes to eat every couple of hours and sleep, but never when you're actually tired and not trying to accomplish your one goal for the day. That's right, I've scaled down to one goal per day; i.e. one load of laundry, addressing baby announcements, getting dressed. I've been varying degrees of successful.

But, I did get some knitting done.

I've got all the increases for the bottom of the French Market Bag finished and have started on the body. I'm really glad I started this project when I did - it keeps me busy, but doesn't challenge my fluctuating intelligence level.

My first Jaywalker sock is ready for a heel - hopefully to be worked on this weekend. And I've almost gotten the details crunched for my Sock Party Partner's sock, I'll have to find a little minute to run to the yarn store next week.

Here's the sisters:

Emily's Here

Emily Green, born on Tuesday, July 4th at 5:51AM to a very tired Mommy, Daddy and Big Sis. She weighed 6 pounds, 15 ounces and was 20.5 inches long at birth.

We're home from the hospital and trying to get some sleep. :)