Baby Hat KAL

My friend Christen is making this hat as a baby shower present and invited us (the KAL group over on FB) to join her. So I did. Shhh... I haven't started yet!

I'm also inviting you.....without clearing it first... tee hee! She won't mind! She likes a little competition and I just know this is her way of getting out of finishing her sweater!

Christen is using a cream colored Shine Sport  that she bought from KnitPicks.com

and I think she's making a navy colored hat too for yet another baby shower!

There seems to be babies popping up all over the place!

I have a friend who is having a baby, my grandson isn't even a month old yet, Christen's cousin is having a baby and yesterday I made a new friend having twins! Yikes! They are everywhere!!

So in honor of those babies and to get our year off to a bang with a KAL ~ here we go!

This is an extremely adorable hat ~ I've seen it on a very cute little baby the day she was born! See? Isn't she adorable?  This isn't a good picture of the hat but it sure is a good one of Ms. Butter!

The pattern looks very simple ~look it only has 54 rows! It's not knit in the round so that means some seaming; which will be good practice for those of us who don't seam that well!

All right... practice for me who doesn't seam very well.

I'm not sure what the book is, or what the hat is named other than 'cap' just as it's shown on the picture above, but it does look like a fairly fast knit.

I don't know the yardages you will need - as you can see that info isn't listed on the pattern page, but I do know this............

It's  made with straight needles and seemed together. 

 Needle Size 3 & 5 for Newborn  and  4 & 6 for 3-6 mo.

It's a baby hat so it shouldn't take more than 50g of any sort of yarn!

I'm going to make twinsy hats out of Sean Sheep 'little grins' using the color Violet.

This stuff right here.....

I love the violet color and can you see that price tag? Oh yeah! I bought this stuff a while ago & have been saving it!

Did I tell you that I haven't started yet... well.. I haven't, but Christen did and is done! This is a super fast knit so I better get cranking!

This is what the top looks like! You start at the top of this hat & make the leaves first.... I'm already thinking about how I can change it up!

Here is what Christen's hat looks like all done - posted the same day as the above picture... sigh... oh well! Guess I really will have to get my knit on!

Look What I can Do!!

No! It does not involve standing on my head... or cables! Although now I can do those!
I just really need to relax and accept the fact that I cannot ever be and should probably not aspire to be... P E R F E C T. This way I can (CAN) make cables and I can do this...
with a little help from my friend Frau Holle ,she's my friend today, usually she's eyeballing me and I swear I can hear her saying... How come you can't spin? Huh? Yeah.... today she's my friend!
When I went home for Christmas I spent some time with my favorite Aunt & she really helped me get going! I was able to spin at night at home and then on my final day in Michigan, Aunt G taught me how to ply! Wow!!

My full bobbin of what we are lovingly calling 'novelty yarn' is on the left! My plied yarn (still quite bumpy & novelty-ish) is on the right! Now all I have to do is set the spin, dry & figure out what to knit with it!

A little close up of my yarn! I MADE IT! ~yes, yes I was shouting!!

Now look what I'm doing! A little less thick & bumpy yarn on the bobbin (right picture) all from the roving on the left! It's from a sheep named Dumbo who lives on a farm near our house in Michigan!

He he he. Who knew I would be on a first name basis with my yarn!

I'm off to spin some more! I've made friends with Frau Holle so I gotta keep this going!

*for those of you interested.. click on the highlighted Frau Holle above to see why I named my spinning wheel that name! My Grandpa told me that if I didn't behave Frau Holle was going to take me away. I named the wheel after her because the darn thing is already leading me astray and totally leading to disorder in my household!

Finger Knitting

Did you ever knit with just your fingers? No sticks? I remember doing this as a kid, but I totally forgotten about it until I was playing around on-line and bumped into a blog called Flax and Twine!
I've been kind of (sort of) ignoring my kids requests the past few weeks to teach him how to knit.....
#1 I have not enough patience, #2 he can't sit still and #3 just last week he thought knitting was stupid. Hmph!
 Well... maybe Boy Wonder I will show you how to do finger knitting!  The author of the Flax and Twine blog has a really nice tutorial that shows how to do finger knitting from start to finish! These pictures are her kids....

*you can see them here: Flax and Twine.

The kids in the pictures look they are having fun AND I love the scarf the little girl made! From her face I think she did too!  The best thing is....I don't see any pointy sticks to poke your friends eyes out with AND some deep concentration seems to be happening so maybe, just maybe Boy Wonder will enjoy this too! I downloaded the tutorial & checked the links from here (yay! they work!) so  I'm going to try tomorrow!

(Hopefully that doesn't count against me in my New Year's Resolution to NOT start anything new.....)

I'm hoping that Boy Wonder will be receptive to learning and keeping those stick thingys in the jar on the shelf for just a bit longer!  

Here is the link to the Flax and Twine Blog ~just click on the highlighted text & you should go right there!

Try It Tuesday!

Today is the official first Tuesday of January! The first Tuesday of 2012! Wow!
It's freezing cold here, although now it is a lot warmer than it started out this morning! It's up from 19 F to a whopping 33! Just chilly enough to keep me indoors trying to finish things I've started. What?! Wait a minute! No! That's not right. It's (insert drum roll please or ominous music...) Try It Tuesday!
Can't be working on some old project... must start something new! LOL
So much for my resolution of finishing things before I start something else......... sigh...........
But it's not my fault. Really! It is after all... Try it Tuesday!
So.... in order to pay the first Tuesday of the first month of a brand new year it's due attention- let's try cables!! Oh yeah!
I'm so gonna do it.
They can't be that hard. They don't look hard. I've tried them before. Honest. They were hard for me. Not that hard, but hard enough where I got frustrated & gave up! Not today! I'm going to try them again! My ultimate goal is to be able to do them as well as my friend Christen but..... we'll see how it goes! Shh... don't tell her though... she'll laugh at me.  

I really would like to make one (or maybe both?) of these hats......
  but I probably should just start out by making a cable huh? Just to see if I can do it!
So that's what I'm going to do! Go play with some yarn and make a cable or two!

 As my Aunt Gaily always says... you can do it, you just need to practice!

So....... I practiced! I did! I can do cables! I think my block with them has been that it felt like I needed to do something on each row. Cablewise that is. Like it had to cabled in front on the first row, purled the second, and then cabled in back for the next row. I really made it too complicated. Yeah... On my sample I just made some stockinette stitching and then when I decided to cable, I knit 2, p1, held 3 on a cable needle in back, knit the next 3, knit the 3 on the cable needle, purled 1 and whoop!! I ended up with something that I link looks like (sorta) like the page in my knitting book! 

I didn't really pay too much attention to how many I cast on so I have a huge gap between the 2 cables and they are both right twisting, but I did it!

It really isn't that hard. Shh... don't tell Christen that either!

Half the battle was following directions! The other half was not reading more in to those directions!

Happy Tuesday!

Hey! If I didn't start a new project but just tried something new.... I didn't really break my resolution then did I???

Monday Sewing....

Maybe I should just rename this blog.... Schi~Schu makes Schtuff?
I've totally started out my crafty new year with a big ol' bang! I've decoupaged a bookcase, a lampshade, made a knitty noddy out of PVC pipe. Good grief! I guess this year I'm going to be doing a whole lot more than just playing with yarn!  
I'm trying to pace myself... I really am! But every day I am want to be doing something different. NOT cleaning or any of that kind of stuff! LOL But the stuff I like to do!  Sewing, knitting, crafting, spinning just to name a few! I have goals! Okay... because I know Big is listening... I will do my chores first. I will!

Mondays are sewing days! I really needed to spend some time with my dusty sewing machine so I joined a sew-along! Every Monday you have to sew something. Could be anything. Small, big, part of a larger project. Whatever! Just sew!

HERE is the link...She even has prizes... hmmmm...

So yesterday I sewed! I needed a drawstring bag for my Knitty Noddy ~which is a thingy that you wrap yarn around to make it into lovely skeins! After of course it's been spun. Anyway... I had to make a Knitty Noddy first; which I did! AWESOME! ~said in my bestest sing-songy voice! Then it needed a case! Wa-la....

Don't tell anybody.... the material is oriented incorrectly. Ugh. I realized it after it had been cut, sewn on 3 sides and was about to get it's buttonholes for the drawstring. Dang!
 Here's a closeup....Skulls AND knitting needles! Which is awesome material ~thanks Annie!!

Either way you look at it (har har) it's pretty cool and it was an easy way to ease into the sewing thing!

So far it's  been a busy couple of days around here....

I'm sewing. I'm trying to spin! On the wheel.... not just around! AND I am knitting! I'm working on a simple basket weave baby blanket for a baby shower in February. Wow oh wow! Right now I think that it should be bedtime but it isn't. Time for some more knitting!

Only 30 some inches to go on this little baby..........

Which you  can grab the pattern for yourself  HERE. I'm using LionBrand Pound of Love & a #8 cable needle ~only because I had to cast on 92 stitches. I don't have any straight needles that are that long! I have until February 4th to finish this so I've gotta get my knit on!

Finished Christmas Stuff

Christmas was a whirlwind! We drove to Michigan for 7 days and were so darned busy that when we got home the camera didn't even make an appearance! Until today!

The overalls and sweater looked amazing (way too big) on the new guy......

 AND the best part is.... He loves them! He does! He told me!

PPU (Paternal Parental Unit) likes his Jacques Cousteau Hat & Neck warmer....

I'm a little worried about the banks in the area where PPU lives.........
There is no picture of the cowl that I made for GIL (girlfriend in law) - I didn't take one. Oops. We seriously were very busy and when I gave it to her for Christmas... well.... she didn't take it off! She loved it!
All the other stuff that I made went over well! Big is enjoying his gloves & his hat over there in Afghanistan. He says he had to sleep in his hat the other night! Glad he has something to keep ears & fingers warm!
I finished everything in time for Christmas and just now loaded everything on to my KnitMeter, a little disappointed that I didn't get over 10 miles..................

Hope your Christmas was Happy!

Here's to knitting10 miles (plus!) next year!

Shh.... don't tell Big because all he will see is $$$$$

Starting out with a BANG!

Happy New Year Everyone!!

Hopefully 2012 will be an exciting and eventful for you because I know it's going to be for me! The way this new year started out has me thinking that it's only going to go up from here!
2012 started out with a loud bang last night - I let the kiddo stay up until midnight for all the rockin' fun on television and when he went to bed promptly at 1205, he tripped going up the stairs, fell on his blanket, knocked the stuff off the stairs! THEN... the cat jumped off the table and knocked over a glass candle holder - BANG! CRASH! I bet the neighbors thought we were partying in here!
And then....... Boy Wonder was awake at 8am raring to go................ oh yay. I was already awake, but totally looking forward to at least an hour by myself in the quiet...........
                                Multiple cups of coffee later...............
here I sit once again in front of my computer contemplating just what to do now!
Should I start a new project? Should I finish a couple that I started over Christmas? Should I just chuck it all & go take a nap? Or even better how about spending some time with Frau Holle? Remember her? She's that spinning wheel that sits over there and begs me to come play. Sigh.... I'm never going to get anything done with her in the house!
I should finish putting all the Christmas stuff away. Should. Probably won't. Not today. Maybe tomorrow! Which is putting it off way too long, but heck! We were gone for a week!
I should finish some of the projects that I started over Christmas! Hey! This time it was only (only!) two! A hat for Big and a hat for ME! Yay! Finally something for me! I might..... but I'm awfully tired. Midnight is really late for me! LOL
Which brings me around to the point I was thinking I was going to make (ADD much?) ..... and finally choose just which one....... New Year's Resolution(s). How about you? Make any? Blow them off already?
I really thought about not making any resolutions this year. If I don't make any I would be Winning! No fail! Instant success! But.... what fun would that be? I need to make at least one so that my friends (especially Christen) have something to laugh at me about in 2 weeks when their resolutions have failed!
Drum roll please.......
Resolution #1 - finish what I start! IF and WHEN I start a new project I would like to complete it before starting a new one! ~he he he I can tell you right now that this probably (oh really?) won't happen!
Resolution #2 - sew more! I've dusted off my sewing machine a couple of times over the past few months but it still looks really lonely. Hm? Maybe if I named her (it?) I might spend more time there! I'm thinking that this might help....
HERE is the link to that!

Resolution #3 - be able to spin without dropping more than 1 (maybe 2) F bombs. It's not really ladylike to drop F bombs all over the place anyway so that shouldn't be too hard. LOL

I even bought a book that should help!




Resolution # 4- Really? 4? Yep. #4 is to try and stick to all of my resolutions at least through February! Short term goals actually seem to work better!
Oh yeah... and to knit cables, and color work (not intarsia no way!) just stripes! There is a lot more going on in my head.... I'm just trying to limit myself to 4 resolutions so that my success rate will be at least marginal! Wish me luck huh??

I really need to add this to the list.... drink more wine! That way I can make these....

But then that would add a #6 - learn to crochet better. Oh well............
You can see these over at Knit and Crochet Now. *I found it on FB & hopefully this LINK will take you there. *it goes to the designers web page!
So now I need to go ponder (with another cup of coffee) the new name of my sewing machine... it's a BabyLock that is white with red.... any ideas? Maybe we should have another contest for this one!
PS Christen hasn't even received her prize for naming the Knit Along last year! Hint- they are small, round and jeweled...........
So send me your ideas to name my machine! Prizes! Giggles!! Oh yay!!