Frog Monkey

Super Secret Knitting

2009-07-01T22:24:00.003-04:00

I finished (and gifted) the super secret knitting I was working on. Might have been so secret that I didn't mention it. A set of washcloths for my sister's birthday.

She has some from our grandmother's stash and a few that I've knit for her before out of cotton but (a)she prefers the acrylic (like Grandma's) and (b)they get a whole lot of use because she really does like them. This is Sirdar Snuggly, left over from a baby sweater that I knit a few years ago. It's really pretty nice to knit with.

I've also been working on El's soft and fuzzy blanket - it's coming along. I'm trying to figure out how big to make it and therefore, if it's almost done. I've got a baby quilt pieced,well, except for the thinking part. And I finished sewing on the binding for the frogs and bugs quilt. I need to sandwich up some quilts and quilt. I've got a whole bunch queued up. Just need to send the boys off to game night.

Breaking in the new machine

2009-06-15T11:56:00.002-04:00

Dude. I really like my new sewing machine. So far, I've made....a smallish quilt top, 3 pairs of elastic PJ pants (2 for El, 1 for La), a nightgown for myself, and a small "whole cloth" quilt. You know, just to try it out.

Oh, and I finished the 9 flannel baby blankets I had queued up. And piecing El's quilt top. And putting together the coordinating doll blanket. And sewing patches onto DH's new Boy Scout uniform (You can never have too many).

And I had this old quilting swatch laying around. I added a zipper and sewed up the sides to make a pouch. I used the wrong kid of zipper - this one is like the ones you would use in a hooded sweatshirt. It comes apart at the end. But you know, whatever.

Almost Done

2009-05-12T21:59:00.003-04:00

This semester has been a doozy. Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, T-Ball, Tutoring, Growing Teeth. Wow. We're on the home stretch - but it's that part where they jam a whole lot (even more!?!?!) into two weeks. Ugh.

My sewing machine has been out of commission since the last post too. Well. I had just gotten the machine back from servicing. I started making baby gift receiving blankets. And the zig zag was berserk. So, I did what any sensible person would do. I bought a Bernina. But it took from March to May before I got a chance to do the sew-in, and I still haven't found time to take any classes. So, hopefully, I'll get back to the gazillion sewing projects I have lined up. Plus La and DH have been queueing up projects for me too.

I've been knitting. Lots almost done there.
1. I finished (almost. except for the ends and the buttons) this sweater for El. It's Swing Thing, and it was a lot of fun to knit. The blue is the Lion-Brand Cotton Ease I got for Christmas. The green, I just picked up cause I liked it.

2. I finished the RPM socks for me. These were also highly fun to knit. The yarn and the pattern I'd been saving for a long time....the yarn is Colinette Jitterbug, and boy did they turn the bathwater green when I washed them.

3. Hats. These are similar to the Kaleidescope Super Bulky Button hat. Except they're not super bulky. The one with the star is the "first draft" and is now for La. The one with the flower button is for me. Delightfully, I think I've used up nearly all of the Classic Elite Beatrice. Like the sweater, they still need the buttons sewn on. Maybe the ends woven in too. But dude. It's May in Florida. I have plenty of time.

So....that means on the needles I have....a square for the Barn Raising blanket, a pair of socks for me, a super-secret birthday gift for my sister. Luckily, none of it is complicated.

A tale of two sweaters

2009-03-20T22:26:00.002-04:00

1. It was the best of times:

I've been working on this sweater for El for next winter. The pattern is "Swing Thing" and it's delightful. I guess it's an old Mag Knits pattern. It's a seamless yoke cardigan, and I think it uses slingshot acceleration or something. Good stuff. The yarn is Lionbrand Cotton-Ease, a Christmas gift from my Aunt Marilyn.

2. It was the worst of times.

Last weekend I had some quiet time (and no sewing machine) so I finally figured out the saddles. Really neat. There's a whole best of times/worst of times just with this sweater. Had DH try it on. Too small. It fit him like he was a teenage girl, and I do not think that is the look he is trying to acheive. It was too small for the monkey too. So, I'll finish the pits when I get to it, bathe it, and hang on to it just in case. Not going to knit a sweater for DH anytime soon.

Make it Quick!

2009-03-11T21:35:00.002-04:00

Tons of small projects. Here's what I've gotten done recently:

1. A baby hat. Elann Esprit. for a baby boy to be born in June. Ravelry deets here. It took longer to get the picture off the camera than it did to knit the hat.

2. Another baby hat. This one is for a baby (girl) due in July. I used the Baby Watchap pattern again. I like it. Lionbrand Cotton-Ease. Ravelry project deets here. I think a jelly fish photographs better.

3. Fingerless gloves for the big sister of one of the new babies. Really similar to the ones for La. Patons Soy Wool Stripes. Ravelry page here.

4. In other news, I bound this guy off. I still need to weave in the ends and figure out if it needs a binding of some sort - the edges curl. Maybe blocking will help? Maybe it doesn't matter that much? I think it's about 36" square. Ravelry info. I had it on a chair in the dining room and La picked it up and carried it around and snuggled with it for a while. So what did I do?

5. I cast on for this. Same yarns. Same needle. Regular diagonal garter stitch baby blanket pattern. Brainless.

Baby Hat City

2009-02-24T22:41:00.000-05:00

I finished this baby hat a while ago. It's the Tea Cozy Baby Hat pattern I found on Ravelry. Lovely pattern. Stretchy. I didn't need to make it as wide (tall?) as it is, it's all cuff. But, you know, there are worse things.

I'd knit the pattern again. This one is for my niecephew, due in July. Don't know the sex yet.

I started another baby hat. This is for one of my old college room-mates who's having a boy in June. It's Elann Esprit, 60 stitches on size 4 needle. K3P2 rib for a while, then switch to stockinette. Lovely for watching Disney Channel Original Movies with the kindergartner.

Finishing in Feb.

2009-02-21T22:35:00.002-05:00

I still do not know how to spell the name of this month. Long name. Short month.

I'm not sure how to describe how things have been going. Not having time to blog. Or to sew. Some knitting. Easy stuff. Lots of bringing people to practices, meetings, the pediatrician's office, running Excel at home to figure out Girl Scout cookie stuff, paying bills, making grocery lists, keeping all the plates spinning.

Here's something I finished this month, though that was a success.

Socks for the monkey. To take this picture today (he's camping), it took a while to find them. Eventually I found them in his dresser. Each sock in a different drawer. Stored dirty. -shrug-.

Here's the Ravelry info. Trekking sock yarn, really small needles (2.25mm?), 60 stitches, teenage-boy sized feet. Mostly office knitting (it helps in frustrating conference calls to feel like I have something [tangible] to show for my time.)

Fourth Annual Brigid Poetry Reading

2009-02-02T21:44:00.002-05:00

Sonnet
by James Weldon Johnson
My heart be brave, and do not falter so,
Nor utter more that deep, despairing wail.
Thy way is very dark and drear I know,
But do not let thy strength and courage fail;
For certain as the raven-winged night
Is followed by the bright and blushing morn,
Thy coming morrow will be clear and bright;
’Tis darkest when the night is furthest worn.
Look up, and out, beyond, surrounding clouds,
And do not in thine own gross darkness grope,
Rise up, and casting off thy hind’ring shrouds,
Cling thou to this, and ever inspiring hope:
Tho’ thick the battle and tho’ fierce the fight,
There is a power making for the right.

Found here: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=179020
About the author: James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938)
More about the St. Brigid Silent Poetry Reading.

Quilt Show!

2009-01-27T21:14:00.003-05:00

I did something fun on Saturday. I went to the Florida Cabin Fever quilt show. Without chaperones.

I bought something nice for me. It's a queen-sizeish quilt. It was at the guild sale table. I kept going back to look at it, surprised that no one had bought it yet. I thought the color-scheme was fab. And the quilting delightful - interesting, but not distracting. I looked at it unfolded on my bed and realized! It's a lot like the picture I tore out of the Crate and Barrel catalog.

This one is a quilt top from the same table. It is so lovely on the front and the back. Now I'm spending my down cycles thinking about what kind of fabric for the back.

On the knitting side, I'm just working through some stuff. RPM socks for me, fingerless mitts for La, the sweater for DH. Socks for the monkey. Nothing real radical or photogenic. We had the birthday party for the girls this weekend. A beautiful day and a fun party - one of those parties at the playground deals. Pinata. A foam-craft project. Cake. Gifts. Playground. Just right. Some hurt feelings, but not more than could be expected. We're going to work on dealing with it more gracefully. My grandpa is having an adventure - he fell in Burger King recently, then had surgery last week to tie his femur back together. Now he's in rehab. He'll be 90 in May. We'll see how it goes.

Something nice for me!

2009-01-16T22:00:00.001-05:00

I got this neat set of Kaffe Fasset squares for Christmas. I picked up a sampler of fats of Kona Cotton from Pink Chalk Fabric. Put the two together....

I think there are 16 colors of Kona, and 30 squares? So, most colors should occur twice. I'm still thinking about whether I want to put a neutral border in between the blocks. But I kind of like them all jammed up next to each other. We'll see what happens.

Do you ever get that feeling that all the ladies around you are expecting?

2009-01-14T21:51:00.002-05:00

I think my list is 5. (1 in May, 1 in June, 2 in July, 1 in the fall.) That is a lot of receiving blankets. I think my gift for the May baby, a girl, is done. Big brother gift too (a cape).

Here's the last part of it: a 2 day baby hat.

OK. So the picture is not super-fab. The yarn is Classic Elite Beatrice, which is still in stock at Webs. I wish now that I bought more. This baby hat ate up most of a 50 gram ball. The yarn is three strings plied together. And once you get used to that, it's fine. It's crazy soft. It would be great for knits for people fussy about wool. And it's machine washable. But, for a big-people sweater it would totally eat up a lot of balls of yarn. It seems like it blooms a little when you wash it, too.

Anyway.... this was knit on size 8 needles and mostly followed "The Baby Watchcap" pattern (Ravelry link). It was a good little project - one of those spur of the moment things. I needed something to do while I kept La company during bath. There was a dearth of traditonal pink yarns in the stash for a baby hat. But this was both "girly" and soft. And it turned out to be a two-day knit. What could be better? I love it when a plan comes together.

You know what's bad?

2009-01-10T22:55:00.000-05:00

When you can't keep track of your sock yarn.

I was looking online today at Little Knits. I was starting to add some sock yarn to the cart. Then, something started to look familiar. I came pretty close to buying another skein of the pink/blue/brown. (Fly Designs' Monarch) It looked eerily familiar. You know why? I had some at home already. Glad I caught myself. I'll add this to my stash on Ravelry.

Getting Back to Real Life

2009-01-08T22:48:00.002-05:00

Over the break, I was on a total finishing streak. Amazing.

I finished this scarf for the monkey. It's the ubiquitous Noro striped scarf. (Jared Flood's idea). I could have made it longer. But I think it'll work. It doesn't quite have the drama from the length that his old scarf has, but it has some color.

I did a lot of sewing over the break. People were taking good naps. Or going to bed at a decent hour. I finished a nightgown for me. Flannel recieving blankets for one of my *three* pregnant peeps (Is it just me or do pregnant ladies seem to come in threes? Or is it just that pregnancy is long enough that it seems that way?) I started taking apart El's quilt to insert the new stripes. And I made some capes. 4 capes. One for La (of course.) Two for our January 5 birthday friends, and one for a big-brother-to-be. La's cape has seen more use than the doll quilts, frankly.

All that hullabaloo

2008-12-30T15:44:00.002-05:00

Three birthdays, Christmas, done; now we're at the lull before the new year. Thank heavens.

I finished some socks for La. Now she's chomping at the bit for fingerless gloves from the same yarn.

I unearthed the sewing machine and started to work through the pile near it. I re-attached the patches to one of DH's Boy Scout shirts. In time for the Citrus Bowl program sales. I've also made a quick pocketbook for myself from pre-quilted fabric from Joann's. And repaired it. The fabric was two-sided.....which means I didn't have to find fabric to line it, but didn't have my usual way of having neat and tidy seams. Need to think some more about the right way to do that.

But I also whipped these doll recieving blankets up. One friend is having a baby in May (a girl) and I have some flannel ready to sew up into blankies for her baby. I made these three out of leftovers from hers and from El (the nursery rhyme fabric is from El). I meant to have them ready for Christmas, but well.... that's how things are sometimes, I guess.

I got some really pretty handspun yarn and a set of Kaffee Fassett squares from one aunt. And yarn for a sweater for El from another. Fabulous. Still working on the socks and scarf for the Monkey. Have been thinking about what socks to make next (for me). And working to finish some stuff up, although, I'm feeling like I need to make pajama pants for the kids, I'm resisting cutting new stuff up. I'm working on unsewing the quilt for El to make room for the new stripes. I hear something rattling in the back of the house. It might be the baby. More later.

Radio Silence

2008-12-09T22:13:00.003-05:00

Sorry for the radio silence. I've been doing stuff, just not talking about it.

Wanna see?

1. I'm working on socks for La. It's the RPM pattern from Knitty. Only, knit across 52 stitches, so the pattern is 3 purl + 9 knit. The yarn is Claudia Hand Paint in Tranquility. La picked it out. Hopefully there will be enough left for mittens for her. They might end up being either fingerless mitts OR having part of it in another yarn.

2. I'm working on socks for the Monkey (don't tell. They're a surprise.) It's in some trekking that I've had for a while. Mostly knitting it at work (don't tell). In All Hands meetings or crazy-long conference calls. First sock is down to the toe.

3. I made new strips for El's quilt. I think the next step is to cut some of the pink strips, then take apart the other quilt, sew some of the leftover new rectangles to widen it, and reassemble.
I'm thinking of patching together some of her old receiveing blankets for the back.

4. I am working on a scarf for the Monkey. It's much farther than this. It's pretty entertaining. Great for putting the girls to sleep. Not as good for travelling.

5. I sewed up the strips I was saving to make a doll blanket for El. Not sure what to do with it next - cut them into stacked coins, add a solid color and make it a throw? Make it a strange shaped quilt? I have some dog fabric I want to use for the back.

This is not what I recall.

2008-11-29T22:36:00.000-05:00

After thinking about it when I was posting about the Fuzzy Feet, I went back and got the quilts in progress for the Monkey and for El. In my mind....the tops were both almost done and done, respectively. In reality, though, there was not as much quilt as I remembered. The goal for each is something about the same size as La's. 3'x7'ish? I last blogged about the two in June 2007. Ugh.

For El:

What I've got done is great for a toddler sized bed. Which, might have been what I was thinking of at the time. But I think I'm really imagining a twin size quilt. La and I went out and bought more fat quarters that coordinate. I think I need to make about 3 more strips to really make it the way I want it to be. I'm planning to make the strips, then rip some seams in the quilt, insert the new ones and resew.

For the Monkey:
I was sure his was almost done.

In real life, it's about half done.

I was planning to put yellow sashings in between the blocks. I tried just putting the blocks on the yellow fabric to simulate. It's really swimmy. And it messes up the flow of the diagonal stripes. more squares.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T22:03:00.003-05:00

From our turkeys to yours.....

Notes from this Thanksgiving (so I can remember them):

1. One regular sized can of pumpkin (12 or 15 oz?) and one 12 oz can of evaporated milk (not sweetened condensed. If there are two similar choices for something, I always get them mixed up - baking powder/baking soda, greater than/less than symbols, evaporated milk/sweetened condensed milk, etc.)

2. However, if I'm making two pumpkin pies, I still need to make them sequentially - the mixing bowl is only big enough for one at a time.

3. It's probably worth the effort to get the food processor dirty and use it for making a graham cracker crust. Otherwise it's hard to get all of the crumbs really, really small.

4. For 2 regular-dish pie pans, two cello-packs (2/3 box) of graham crackers is probably the right amount to get it all the way up the sides. Don't be cheap with the graham crackers.

5. Johnathan and Rome apples work OK in the pie, if you can't find the ida reds. My usual combo is Rome and Ida Red.

6. Move the rack down to the 2nd from bottom for the apple pies. The tops got a little too dark.
Lots of good stuff to come this week: fuzzy feet finished, assessing the quilt situation, probably more.

A special request

2008-11-22T21:46:00.000-05:00

The monkey mentioned that he could use slippers. I got out the box of feltable wool and told him to pick one out (purple). Then asked if he wanted a second color and he picked out a stripe color (black). The choices surprised me - I was sure he'd go with charcoal, or maroon or something. He's been trying out colors not usually in his palette lately. It seems a little affected and they aren't really that flattering to his skin tone, but I guess it's good to branch out and expiriment. If you can't do that at 14, when can you?

Dang. I need to finish his quilt. And El's.

But the Fuzzy Feet are rolling along. Here's a shot from Thursday. I finished the first one Friday when I was home with La. Turned out to be a good thing that he picked purple - there's a lot of it in the stash.

The color is so not accurate, but at least you can see the stripes. Pretty low contrast under artificial light, but during the day you can see them pretty well.

Happy Birthday Kelli

2008-11-21T21:39:00.004-05:00

I finally finished a gift for my friend Kelli. Exactly 1 year late. Here are her monkey socks:

When I picked these back up in the middle of October, I had finished the 2nd repeat of the lace pattern. Once I got past the other two, it was a cinch. Not that the lace pattern was tricky, but it's trickier when you have frequent interruptions and/or yarn grabbers. The yarn is Trekking XXL - who knows what number. The color is pretty, but it would have been just fine in a plain sock.

And this year's gift. The theme was "be nice to yourself" (it was a milestone number) and included lovely bath stuff, a handknit washcloth and Godiva chocolate.

We might need a new washer.

2008-11-11T12:42:00.003-05:00

I was getting my socks and shoes yesterday and saw this!

In my favoritest pair of socks, no less. At first I was afraid that I dropped a stitch, but there were little ends sticking up, like it got chewed up in the washer. Once the girls were put to bed, I tackled it.

First I got some waste yarn and a chibi needle and threaded it through, at the level of where I could find exposed stitch loops. For anyone trying this at home, I recommend using a straight tipped darning needle. Mine have bent tips, which are nice for some things, but not this. I was worried about missing a stitch - it's just an up-down-up-down pattern through the "V" shaped stitches. The hard part was sticking to just one round.

Then, snip, snip, snip. If you're feeling brave, cut close to the waste yarn. If you're feeling like a chicken (like me), give it a little ease and then tink/unravel it to the waste yarn. Thread the DPN through the stitches of what seems like one round, using the waste thread for a guide. I think I picked up all the stitches backward, and there were a few places where I kind of dropped a stitch, so on my first round of knitting, I was careful. The other trouble is that the closest needles I could find were 2.75mm. These were knit on 2.25. On this kind of scale 0.5mm is big.

The green socks are on hold until I finish these. I think I have about 4 rounds, then the toe and done! Just in time. :^)

Is it too late to show Halloween stuff?

2008-11-04T17:43:00.002-05:00

Here are the three monkeys: El is a fairy princess. La is Gabriella from High School Musical and the Monkey is Rorschach from Watchmen. I made El's dress and the Monkey's mask and scarf.

Here's a shot of the dress where you can actually see it. The sparkly stuff was really hard to sew - I probably should have changed to a finer needle. I used bias tape on the hem and then sewed the trim above it. I didn't have enough of the trim to do the whole hem, so I just did the front. Delightfully cheesy. La picked out the trim, buttons, and fabric for the dress. The pattern is Butterick 3772. I made view A. I cut out two of the dress - one in the slinky, one in the shiny. Joined the sides together for each, then when you sew the dress shoulders to the facing, there were three layers - silky, shiny, facing. The hem on the shiny is just pinked with shears. It all came together in an afternoon.

Scarf and hat

2008-10-28T22:07:00.002-04:00

Here are the new scarf and hat, in action. The scarf is a basic sideways garter stitch scarf, the hat is similar to the Garter Stripe Beanie by Terhi Montonen (Mustaa Villaa). It could be a little bigger, but it fits for now.

And here's a picture of El wearing the sweater I knit for her this summer. I need to take one of her in the sweater my aunt knit. It's more pastel-y and her blue eyes really pop when she's wearing it.

And finally, the view from my Grandpa's driveway, if you look away from the road and away from the house (it would be down the road, if the road continued.) The familiar sights of my grandparents' town really looked a lot different in fall colors. I don't know that I've ever been (maybe once?) at this time of year - it looks so much different than June or March or January. A picture like this is now my phone wallpaper.

It's been a while, hunh.

2008-10-27T21:44:00.003-04:00

I really have been working on stuff. I've finished two hats and a scarf. I started another scarf. I've been working on long neglected monkey socks. I went to upstate New York for a long weekend. All sorts of stuff. (one of the hats was an "emergency hat" as in, Eek! The baby is 10 months old now and doesn't have any winter hats! And we're going someplace cold!) Oh, and I put together El's costume and I made some accessories for the monkey's costume (it's foraged - part sewn, part thrifted, part recycled, part "free" medical supplies from auntie). La's costume is from the store. Hers was the first one done. :^)

Here is the hat and scarf set I made for La. I don't think I have pictures of the finished scarf, but they got a fair amount of use at my grandparents'. Frankly, I think both could be better - the hat is a little small and the scarf has some weird mistakes in it. They were hurried and it shows. The end consumer is happy with it though. I'm still on the hook for socks and mittens for her. Phooey. I don't even have finished pictures of these. But this is an in progress shot of the scarf. Will have to go through the house and photograph stuff and come back to this later.

Fun Things to Do with Dad

2008-10-12T22:36:00.002-04:00

The Monkey and La didn't have school last Thursday. El doesn't have school Monday. I'm taking Monday, DH took last Thursday. (I took the Tuesday not long before. La and I went to Disney's Hollywood Studios and rode Toy Story Mania a couple times. It was a 3 on the crowd calendar. Fabulous.) I had promised La, in a weak moment that she could come to work with me Thursday, then DH and I set up the plan. This is the list of fun things that I presented to La....I'm giving it to you all, just in case you are looking for something fun to do on a school day.

Go to the playground at school.
Go to the park.
The library
Lunch with the other parent
Monkey Joes (indoor playplace with big inflatable slides/bouncehouses, etc.)
Go to the movies
Go to Disney World (OK. This isn't on everyone's list.)
Watch the movie from Netflix.
Go Swimming at the Y
Ride bikes
Go fishing

The ended up having fun - they had lunch with me, DH and La went to one movie, the monkey and his friend went to another, they had a squirt gun fight in the morning (La's addition to the list).

I'm hoping my day home with El tomorrow results in a good dent in her Halloween costume and a Girl Scout uniform for La.

On the sewing list

2008-10-02T09:10:00.000-04:00

Someone has co-opted one of my flowery grocery bags to use for toting around a D&D game. . I thought making them flowery would help prevent walk-offs like that. Guess not. So, here we have a grocery bag for everyone else. None for me - I have a whole set already. These follow the Burda Charlie pattern. The brownish-gold and dark green are rip-stop nylon that I got for $1/yard from W*l-M*rt. Unfortunately, one was probably 60" wide and the other was more of a 45", so not quite enough to get 2 bags out of them. But this way the boys can tell theirs apart.

And! An experiment with a 6-gore skirt for La. We'll see how it goes - if it works, if she'll wear it, etc. She was unenthusiastic about it, but it was mostly an exercise for me anyway.