** i love how i finally get my pictures off my camera and am ready to upload them and flickr is down. that's typical of my week.
i know it's been a while! it feels like ages to me. last week was a total blur but i did get a lot of knitting done while being blindsided by other things around here. first off, do i have any readers in sunset park, brooklyn? we're thinking about moving there and i would love to hear more about it.
so i've been knitting, doing freelance, answering popknits questions, and being a mom these past couple of weeks and it's been stressful but rewarding. rewarding for you all as well because i have two (actually 2+!) FOs to show you.
first, the long awaited peanut pants are done! why do gauge swatches lie? i swear that my gauge swatch told me that these would shrink a lot more than they did. oh well, better too big than too small right? she can wear them in the fall or even next year!
peanut modeling her pants
the pattern was very easy to follow. (ravelry) it's one of those plug-in-the-numbers type deal which means you can use it with any yarn. the only thing that i messed up was that i read the short-row bottom directions wrong. in the end, i made a much more roomy bottom than i would have liked but it wasn't a deal breaker.
the pants were great for traveling. i knit on them during the few times that i've been on the subway in the last few months. it was a here and there project and did the job well.
two weeks ago, my dear friend kaitlyn gave birth to her second daughter (congrats kaitlyn!) so i decided to cast-on for something for little cassie.
elijah was a great stash-busting project! (ravelry) i used some leftover bubblegum pink cotton-ease and i think that he's just perfect.
close-up
big thanks to ysolda for making this pattern SO easy to follow. i did it all with two circular needles and even then it was easy to change the pattern from dpns. i can't wait to give it to cassie.
now what? i'm going to pick flair back up tonight and then i'm going to cast-on for another quickie project. i bought a swiffer mop last week (in violation of my proctor and gamble boycott) and want to make some knit covers for it. i'm hoping to keep the floors a little cleaner over the next few months. i mopped the floors last week and was a little disgusted with myself. i should be better about that seeing as the peanut is always picking food off the floor!
later this week i'll bring you the last bit of FO goodness, a spidery baby blanket and a new skirt! (peek over at flickr if you want a preview.)
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this post is brought to you by grand theft auto 4 which arrived on our doorstep this afternoon. hallelujah!
thanks to everyone for your warm wishes and support for the launch of popknits. it's been a labor of love for some time now and i'm really excited and especially nervous to see it live online and getting pattern proposals already! haven't seen any sock proposals yet, hint hint, but you never know what's going to come in the door in june.
anyway, let's get back to blog business. i have a small amount of progress to report.
mmmm, i love this fabric
flair is coming along nicely. i had one hiccup and had to frog back a little but not much. i did end up putting short row bust shaping in...
and i think it was a good idea! it fits well and will be even better once it's blocked (everything's a little tight right now.) i'm feeling positive about it.
one leg done, the other started
the peanut pants are creeping along slowly. i was on leg island there for a while, but i feel a renewed energy to knit them. they seem HUGE right now but according to the swatch they will shrink considerably.
garter stitch cuff
i opted for an easy peasy garter stitch cuff. nothing big here.
in other crafty news, i hope to sew this weekend! i've been meaning to drag out my sewing machine for over a week now but it just hasn't happened yet. i got some great fabric for skirts at brooklyn general.
new fabric
and i also have one from the stash that i'm using (sorry no pic.) tonight, i'm casting on for elijah (ravelry) as well. there's a certain baby being born right now that will be lonely without it. hopefully i'll have some pics later this week.
here are a few peanut pics to end the post.. i love shots of her eating!
cheesy!
this is what she looks like after eating mac & cheese. the hair! yuck. i can never give her mac & cheese for lunch. it always has to be dinner so that she can be bathed afterward.
messy
i gave her lentils recently. she sorta liked them but they ended up everywhere. next time, they will be mashed.
books!
and she could spend hours looking at her books. it's one of her favorite activities!
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i don't know why i have so many problems starting a project. i can think of at least ten things that i'd like to cast-on for but then i get all nervous and think, "what if it doesn't work out? what if i wasted all that precious free time on it and it turns out to be crap." yes, i really do think that. lately, it HAS to be a sure thing. so i'm waffling. i really think that i should swatch and cast-on for flair but i hesitate. ugh.
in the meantime i've done some other crafty things. i'm working on a simple A-line skirt for myself. i've had this bonfit skirt patterner for years (i remember buying it at my old apartment so we're talking like SIX years now) and i've never used it until now. i think that i was a little intimidated by it seeing as my sewing skills are less than stellar, but i've got a little more confidence now and i gave it a shot.
my first drafting of the skirt (yes, i'm drafting on leftover christmas wrapping paper) didn't work out well in the hips. WAY too much hips. so i figured out how to cut them back and re-drafted the pattern. i'm working with some cotton sheeting that i bought at BG for my muslin, which i'm going to turn around and use as a lining when all is said and done.
fabric and zipper for my skirt
i also got this at BG. i saw those pink and red turtles and had to have it. should be cute when i'm done. so i'm thinking about installing this non-invisible (does that make it visible?) zipper as an invisible zipper. i know that i'll sort of see the zipper teeth in the seam but i don't care. will it work? i think so. i just ordered and received my zipper foot from sears the other day so i can get started tomorrow maybe.
i didn't want to be without something on the needles (and those miters? my god, i'm having trouble working on them. i think that i'll save them for our early summer trip to the NC outer banks.)
peanut knit pants
i'm making these knit pants for the peanut (ravelry) using the itchy fingers pattern i found through ravelry. i did all the measurements and the math and i think that we're on the right track. i even swatched! i took the swatch when i was done and threw it in with our regular wash and dried it. i'm glad i did this because there was a significant change in the gauge seeing as this is a cotton/linen blend yarn. so i have to count rows while doing these pants not go by inches.
under the hem
sorry this image is blurry but i wanted to show my waist mods. i did a turned hem instead of ribbing and i picked up all the stitches and knit them in except for this inch or so pictured here so that i can put in elastic. i'm waiting waiting waiting on a shipment from joanns. god, they are slow to ship.
that's what's going on here! oh yeah, and the peanut is crawling now and giving me all types of strokes and heart attacks as she does crazy stuff. i stopped her from killing herself at least three times today. but who cannot love this face?
.... ok, well maybe this face..
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