July is Heating Up

Of course, just when you think that things are going well, life throws you a curve ball.  This month, my maternal grandfather passed away.  He had been quite ill for the past several years, and I had recently visited him in March.  Although he had both Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, he did indicate that he not only remember me, but was happy to see me.  He fought in the Korean war and was a talented carpenter (some of his projects included a handmade pool table, a flute stand for me, a grandmother clock for my great-grandmother, and more).  His passing meant that we had to do a lot of travelling, picking up family out of state, and then driving another 6 hours to Ohio.  At the end of the day, my toddler put his hand on the coffin saying, "Bye-bye Grandpa Frank..."

We also adopted a two and a half month old kitten, whom we lovingly named Q after a character from Star Trek: The Next Generation.  This was Peanut's early birthday present, and he was happy to have a new "fur baby" in the house, bringing us to 4 cats.  Q is a mischeivous kitten, who, unlike my other three cats, loves yarn.  As a result, I have to knit faster and with a spray bottle.  At the end of the day, I usually have a wet kitten wanting to curl up with me in bed.



Current Projects
Due to the death in the family, not much progress happened with old projects, I brought a bunch of little projects with me to have something to do in the car ride to Ohio and also while we hung out in the hotel in between family functions.

• Seamless Dress: This was finally completed and turned out great.  It looks great on the hangar, but not laid flat...as do some of my other projects.

• Simple Girl's Jumper: This jumper was inspired by the seamless dress.  While the jumper was not seamless, it was a fun, improvized project. Since I am trying my hand at designing baby clothes, I busted out the calculator, and designed something simple as my first go of it. The design was originally made for a 3-month-old, but I did not do a gague, since I have used the yarn before. It ended up being about the size for a 9-12 month old. :)

• Jamaican Slouchy Hat:   Every Wednesday night my husband’s family has dinner and each week, one of the kids (and/or their significant other). Lately, the lucky cook dresses up and makes a theme for the evening. Recently is was our turn to make dinner. I offered to make a traditional Jamaican dinner. My husband and son had hats my husband purchased while in Jamaica, oddly enough, they were made in Guatemala. I decided, as a Jamaican, to make my own crochet hat to go with the theme. It actually turned out well! So, made in America, by a Jamaican; a Jamaican Slouchy Hat. Too bad I don’t have any dreads to fill it up.

• Jamaican Colors Hat: This was another hat to go with the Jamaican theme. I wanted to try a different method of making a hat to see how it would look. Turned out ok, but the 2x2 rib is overly stretchy. All-in-all…average turn out for me.

• Tiger Lily Tank: I took the Tiger Lily Tank with me on the road and was able to finish the back with attached straps.  Once this project is finished, I'll be able to post some pictures.  I used Vanna's Glamour yarn and it's turning out pretty well.
• Peanut's Fall Sweater: Like many crafters, I'm not satisfied with working on one project at once.  Since I'm learning how to design baby and toddler clothes, I picked up some Bernat Baby Softee yarn (Flannel) and started up a simple sweater for Peanut out of a baby knit book.  The back is in progress and measures about 8" in length right now.
• The Dude Sweater: No progress as of the last post.
• Patriotic Toeless socks with cuff: Also no progress as of the last post.

Design

While I do have the ability to crochet, I did have to spend a few hours refreshing my crochet skills.  I actually prefer to knit more than anything else.  This entry's design element: don't be afraid to try something new to stretch yourself beyond your potential.  All through the past season of American Idol, Jennifer Lopez always praised contestant Lauren Alaina for stretching herself and going for notes that she never thought she could sing.  Why not try this with your crafting skills?  So you think you know how to knit or crochet?  Want to recreate something or are picturing something that you'd like to wear (or see on someone else)?  Design it!  I wanted a Jamaican hat, and it happened.  Yeah, I had to look up the difference between half double crochet and double crochet and spend countless hours searching how to start a crochet hat that had the style I was looking for, but I made it happen.  Sure, it might have been a challenge, but I received so many compliments from other crafty family members (and my dad, who's from Jamaica), the effort was all worth it.  Don't forget, your friends at Knitting Daily are very helpful when it comes to the new and even the classic stitches.

Knitting Madness

Last, but definitely not least, I must confess that I start way too many projects at once.  Not only do I have several knit projects in progress, but I took on a few other things too:

1. New Kitten (on top of taking care of my toddler every day)
2. More knit projects, and design
3. Buying more and more yarn
4. Got the business account restarted (and we now take credit cards!)
5. Getting the house more organized, including my tiny sliver of an office
6. Rummage Sale!

So, I had to have a pep talk with myself.  Most of these projects better be done by the end of the year.  That means, all of my projects in the queue must be done and my design projects need to be at least designed, drawn out and started.  That means making a work schedule and officially "starting" this business.  We've been open since October 2008, but obviously a full-time job and starting a business do not mix.  Now that I don't have the headache of working 50 plus hours a week and only knitting to wind down, I can focus on the things I really love.  Creativity, yarn, knitting, and the warm and fuzzy feeling I get when a project gets completed.  Keep checking to see how I'm doing on getting everything set up and completed as the days go by.  That means more (and shorter) posts. 

Coming Soon

A method to the madness.

Mad About Cats

Current Projects

• Patriotic Toeless Socks: Here's a sample of what the toeless socks look like.  They are calf-high and the foot ends at about the arch of a medium sock (7-8 size shoe).  I could not get the cuff to lay properly for the picture.  The good thing about this particular sock is that it did not require any blocking.  The bottom ends with a K1, P1 rib.  EASY AS PIE! 

Patriotic Colors!

 

• "The Dude" Sweater:  I am attempting to continue progress on the back of the sweater, and I am almost done with chart 2a.  Unfortunately, these guys got in the way of any more progress today.

Baby Buddy (Age 7)

Gray (Age 11)



Kira (Age 10)

For the first time in the many years that I have been knitting, the cats have become interested in The Dude's yarn.  My only guess as to why is that this is the first time I have worked with 100% wool and maybe they like the feel or smell of it.  Luckily, I have a fresh catnip plant and a spray bottle (with water) to keep them at bay a bit while I feverishly knit.  Needless to say, my even cuter husband and son have got me distracted as well.  Especially now that my almost two year old has started speaking in some full sentences (no really, he does speak in full sentences, but I do have to translate for my husband sometimes).

Coming Soon
Family pictures and my 29th birthday is on its way. 

Busy Bee

Keeping Busy
I haven't posted in a while because I've been at my parent's bed and breakfast, helping them celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary.  We had an excellent get together and all joined in to sing "With You I'm Born Again", the song my uncle sang at their wedding.  When I returned home, my husband surprised me with a plot of land in the community garden part of an urban farming project in our city.  Now I have a bunch of tomato, pickle cucumber, kolorabhi, jalapeno, basil, onion, and cilantro plants thriving!  It took 2 days of hard labor, but we got it all planted.

Current Projects

• "The Dude" Sweater: Still in progress and the fair isle is still working pretty well for me.  For those of you working on this pattern, the size medium Chart 2a is a little off so you may have to improvise a little to make sure that it ends up looking like it's supposed to.  Also, after watching "The Big Lebowski" with my husband again, I noticed that "The Dude" sweater is a little bit darker than the Andrea Rangel pattern.  If you want to substitute the Ivory-looking main color with a little bit more of a fisherman's wool traditional color, it will be a little bit more true to form. 
• Patriotic Toeless Socks with Cuff:  I have my own master pattern for socks after some trial and error with my first few pairs of socks that I made for myself, but I got the idea for a cuff from one of the Patons sock books.  Following the picture, I added a cuff to a toeless version of the socks of which one is almost done.  Once it's complete, I'll share photos.

Coming Soon
More pictures of my projects and progress.  Blogger picture uploads are currently not functioning on my computer.