New eye candy!



I stopped at the library on the way to karate yesterday to pick up a couple of suspense novels I've been waiting for and browsed the knitting section just long enough to find some books to take home and drool over. I needed Creature Comforts to figure out how much yarn that chicken sweater takes....Kids Kids Kids because I've had intarsia on my mind and wanted another look at that Hiawatha sweater...and I just sort of stumbled across Nursery Rhyme Knits -- Hats, Mittens & Scarves with Kids' Favorite Verses...

I'm so totally dazzled by Kids Kids Kids and Nursery Rhyme Knits that I've forgotten everything else on my needles or planned for the future, not to mention the fact that I don't have a baby girl of my own to knit for. Leif is tiny enough I think I can get away with knitting the eyelet sweater in dark blue...I could do the bog jacket for Heath or Alex, depending on the color combination...and there has to be a way to adapt the mittens in Nursery Rhyme Knits to mommy size. Bigger yarn or extra repeats or something. There are three sets in there I'd love for myself. And a bunch for the kids.

I went to search Amazon and make sure both books were still in print, read the reviews for Kids Kids Kids and got really upset with the woman who gave the book a lousy rating because she says you'll feel so bad when your kids get the sweaters dirty.

So I should knit my kids crappy looking sweaters so it'll be okay when they get dirty? What kind of stupid logic is THAT? Not that I'm planning to knit an intarsia masterpiece, put it on my son and send him down to wallow in the creek. If I'm going to knit for the kids, I'm going to at least try to knit nice things. Because when I knit unintentionally crappy looking sweaters, they insist on wearing them out to the Knitting Guild or LYS and telling anyone who will listen who made them those crappy looking sweaters. And sweaters that you know will look crappy aren't as fun to knit as the ones you hope will look nice.

I'd been all set to buy some Softee Chunky and knit raglans for all four kids until I read her review and got all riled up. Now I don't know what I'm gonna make them. But it's going to have cables or lace or something that's intended to look good.

It's supposed to be intarsia.

Intarsia is one of those knitting techniques that I had no desire to ever attempt. I was never ever ever going to knit my kids sweaters with big blocky animals on the fronts. Then I checked out Creature Comforts from the library and saw the cute little chicken sweater and now I've got to make one...

So I'm attempting Mousie Mousie from Handknits for Kids and it seems to be working. I don't really like this technique, but if it gets my baby a cute sweater with a chicken on it, I'll figure it out.

Guess I should've kept casting on new project while I had the urge last week, because after a little flurry of finishes I'm back with the same old WIPs I didn't feel like working on before. And now that I have to start something new, I don't want to. I want to knit, I just don't want to scrounge for the right needles and make sure I'm getting gauge and all of the other un-fun stuff that comes with starting a new project.



So I spent an hour tinkering with Frozen Lake and, although I did figure out what I was doing there for a brief moment, I think it's a bigger mess than it was when I started. Of course I didn't put in a lifeline before I started messing with it, because at the time it didn't make sense to put one where I already suspected there might be mistakes. Now it sounds like it would've been a good idea!

Finding a new project shouldn't be a problem. There's gorgeous eye candy at Mason Dixon Knitting. How can that woman keep coming up with newer and more gorgeous ways to play with mitered squares? There's a new issue of Knitty up, with a cabled baby sweater and pretty cabled socks. What really intrigues me, though, is the little glimpse of that sweater at the top of the picture for Intolerable Cruelty.
The new MagKnits has yummy socks -- even a pair inspired by the Lemony Snicket Books.

Maybe I'll just snuggle up and read the September book for WhoDuKnit....

I guess there was something in the air Friday night because a couple of my online knitting friends were having just as much trouble as I did. Whatever it was seems to have cleared and I'm making happy progress on my WIPs again.



I got the ends woven in on Alex's easybreezy. The yarn I used (Red Heat Casual Cotton) isn't nearly as cute as what the designer used. I was starting to wonder what I was thinking when I bought it, but everything turned out just fine. I dread picking up stitches more than sewing up seams, but the effect it creates is neat. I think I want to try sizing this up for myself, and I've even got yarn that might work.

The cast on and bound off edges of my hobo bag are looking much better since I used a smaller needle to pick up the stitches along each edge and added about an inch of garter stitch before binding off again. I'm not sure if I'll fold it under when I sew the purse together or not, but I've got options I can live with, so I'm plodding away on the strap.

I've only got two repeats left on the Dayflower scarf. It's been a fun knit and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for another easy lace project like Branching Out, but I'm ready to be done with it.

And the camouflage sweater is coming along. I'd been warned that the yarn was splitty, but I'm not having any trouble with it.

The rest of the WIPs? I'll get to 'em. Eventually....

The pattern said it would be obvious which stitches to work the increases on in each right side row, that there was no need for stitch markers. The pattern lied.

In case you couldn't guess, my knitting did not go at all well tonight.

I've got another bee in my bonnet. This one is telling me that I absolutely must knit raglan sweaters for all four kids. I did want to knit new sweaters for all of 'em this year (so far Leif has three and no one else has any, unless we get to count Alex's summer tops) and that little cardigan for Leif was so much fun it made perfect sense to try a pullover.



Then I heard about Bernat Camouflage. I can't remember where I heard about it, or what I heard about it, but it seemed like the perfect yarn for a sweater for Heath. Of course none of the stores I go to sell the stuff. I was hoping that Fabric Depot up in Portland might, but no luck there. Knitting Warehouse has it, but their shipping isn't cheap enough to just buy four skeins -- and they're temporarily out of stock. Joann's has it, with free shipping, but not in the color I wanted.

sigh

I thought I was going to have to wait. Then we went for a Sunday drive down through Marcola to Springfield (I really wish I'd been paying better attention to the route we took!) and I commented that we were going past a Ben Franklin Crafts and I didn't think there were any of those left in our neck of the woods. And my wonderful husband turned into the parking lot. Yarn shopping isn't his favorite way to spend his day off, but he stopped without being asked and held half of the kids while I wandered the yarn aisles in a happy daze.

They've got Noro. They've got Cascade Fixation. They've got Brown Sheep. They've got DenimStyle. They've got Sugar-n-Cream in colors I haven't been able to find anywhere but oneline.

And they've got Bernat Camouflage!

I compromised on the color and they did overcharge me so I wound up spending more than I would've if I'd bought it from Knitter's Warehouse and paid the expensive shipping. But that's okay because I've got it here with me now and I've been happily knitting away with it. I'll get some of that other colors I wanted when I can get it cheap.

Once this sweater's done, I'm planning to cast on with either the Denim Style that's been waiting to become a sweater for Heath, or the pink Red Heart Tweed that's been sitting in my stash forever.Or maybe the red TLC Wiggles. For a pattern, I'm using The Incredible, Custom-Fit Raglan. I was going to buy the raglan pattern from Knitting Pure and Simple but was too impatient to wait until I could get to the LYS.

And there are still five or six other projects I want to cast on for Right This Second.