A sure sign of us moving

I'm finishing up a few things. One reason is because we're moving, but not less pressing is the fact that couple of my friends are having babies with the due date in sight. So I have to hurry up and send couple of stuff to them. Then there is Clint's relative, who is due at the end of May.

I'm pretty sure at least one of the recipients or possibly two read this blog. At least they'll be surprised of what they get and not all of it is necessarily in this post anyways.

Clint's relative is actually his cousin's girlfriend (their older kid is in Paula's (my MIL-tengdó) daycare), and she is certain to have a girl (the other two are undecided, may fall either way). So I'm giving the kimono to her. I can't really see a boy in a kimono, which is a shame. Why can't boys wear something cute?



The other things I've finished are couple of bibs. The pedal bib only needed a little blocking but the denim bib needed a button and an appliqué.



You can read more about them on flickr - which makes this an short and uninteresting blog :o

My Lopapeysa is all ready to be sewn up. I bought the zipper yesterday, jacket zipper even. I mean, it's a jacket rather than a cardigan anyways. It's bulky (by that I mean knit out of bulky yarn) so it needs a serious zipper, right?

I was going to tackle this tonight, but came up against a small problem. My MIL's (tengdó) sewing machine is a Singer, who is over 50 years old. (Oh boy, I hope I don't get any hate mail from Baby Boomer singers!). It's not so likely that it can handle the thick fabric of the sweater/jacket.

I'm going to go to JoAnn's tomorrow and see if they will do it for me. I could pretend I was in the market for a sewing machine. Well, technically I am. I will buy a sewing machine, but not until after I've moved. Perhaps not until we've finally settled down (the Ohio University job is a temporary job).



Since you'll have to wait a little longer to see the finished piece I give you this preview. Well, I also wanted to show you (my faithful readers) how the colors come out. I still think each one of the colors are beautiful and both the complementary colors go well with the base color - but the yellow is too bright and completely drowns the green. It looks better in daylight. I suspect that part of my problem is that I've only worked on it (especially the color part) at night, with artificial light.

p.s. we're leaving next Tuesday (27th).

Toasty Toes

One thing I don't have to worry about is cold feet. I finished my Monkey socks.



Here is another view of the pattern.



Better make the best of the good weather we are having and take an outside shot of them in the sun.

The pattern is easily memorized and hard to forget - which came in handy since it took so long to finish them.

The yarn Hjertegarn sock yarn, needles 2,5 mm circular.

This is what I wrote on flickr about them: "It was designed for variegated yarn, but I was looking for a pattern with texture for this yarn. When I saw this pattern I thought it was perfect for the yarn and I started right away. I only finished it now though (about 2 months later?)."

February Dishcloth

February Dishcloth
Originally uploaded by rajnos.

I finally took a picture yesterday. Today the mid-month KAL starts. I finished todays lines and it looks like an interesting pattern. It's a lace pattern. I'm doing the 1st of the month cloths in solid colors (because they have purl-patterns) and the mid-month cloths in variegated (because they have texture). I have about 17 skeins (plus leftover yarn) of kitchen cotton and the majority is variegated. I also have a cone of white yarn and I might knit another one (of the mid-February cloth) in white if the pattern doesn't show up well with the variegated.

The February cloth (in the photo) only had one stitch of garter stitch on the edges and that is not enough. Not for me anyways. Maybe it'll be different after it's washed?

It's about time!

So I finally finished this ornament. I made it the summer that Ása was born (2005), but then I didn't have the right needles to sew it shut. Once I got the needles, I was busy with other things, and never finished it. All I had left was to close it up and sew the cord around it. I'm not to experienced in this kind of thing so that held me back a little.

It's the level 5-2 piece from Victoria Samler Beyond Cross Stitch series.

It's my first (and only) hardanger piece and I stitched it with Rósa Bjarna (we each did our own but pretty much at the same time). It was enjoy to stitch it and a lot of fun to try hardanger.

Here is the post with Rósa's piece, if you want to see it in more details.

Update on the zipped Lopapeysa

So, I went ahead and knit it with the yellow. The good thing is that I love the yellow color. It's a very beautiful color and it fits well with the dark-brown. The bad thing is that it's way to bright compared to the green, and much brighter than the pictures on the internet indicated (manufacturer and store). So the two colors are in two different tones and the yellow stands out too much. Oh, well. I do really like the dark-brown, moss-green, yellow combo.

I'm knitting the collar and is almost done. I have to finish the sweater before we move (in 2 weeks), both because I need a sewing machine and because I need to wear it in Ohio. I

Mid-January Dishcloth

Mid-January Dishcloth
Originally uploaded by rajnos.

Made from 'Sugar'n'cream' as Mid January Dishcloth in the Monthly Dishcloth KAL.

The cables are really clever. The dishcloth would have looked like a swatch if it had been made with the traditional purl stitches around the cables. The garter detail makes this design really special. Some people mind that it doesn't have straight edges but I don't care. I mean, it's a dishcloth!

Janvier

Janvier
Originally uploaded by rajnos.

I finished it last weekend. On Sunday, when I should have been going to the Library Knitting group. This was the last meeting for me since I'm moving and I'd been looking forward to go. But then I just forgot! I can't believe it. They only meet once a month :( I didn't even get to say goodbye.

I am stitching the piece on 28 ct. cotton khaki colored evenweave with DMC colors. The SAL can be found on Maryse's blog.

Stitching blogger's questions

I made a new blog with SBQ post exclusively. These are interesting questions and it's nice to see what other stitcher do and especially how they do things differently than you. You can tap into the stitching community.

To be or not to be Yellow, that's the question!

I finished the January SAL from Maryse. I finished it on Sunday. That's the 4th, a little late, but I think I did pretty good considering I didn't start it until around the 20th!

The photo is stuck in my camera, among other photos.

I'm making a good progress on the lopapeysa (Lopi-sweater). I've joined the sleeves with the body and am about to start the pattern. Only problem is that I don't like one of the color. It's a yellow color and I thought it would be lighter. Now I'd rather want a white one. The store had a pretty strict return policy and I decided it wasn't worth it for one skein. It would have cost me more than to buy a new one. Besides, this yarn (Lamb's pride bulky) is good for felting (so it's nice to have it). But. And it's a big but. No-one sells this yarn around here! There are no yarn stores in Concord only stores like Jo-ann and Beverly's, Micheal's in next city over. They sell yarn, sure. But they basically only sell acrylic yarn or acrylic yarn mixes. This has been changing, as Lion Brand (and others) is going more into wool and exotic fibers. Now Patons even has a soy silk yarn!

I looked at some yarn store that are the closest, but none seem to carry Lamb's pride (I didn't call, just checked their website).

I'm thinking about trying the yellow color. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad? Maybe I can just call order that one skein? I know a store in Oakland that sells it.

The Year of A-Longs

There seems to be a theme to this year (2007). Stitch-a-longs and knit-a-longs or 'A-longs'.

I started doing the Monthly Dishcloth KAL, beginning í Jan. They have KALs, starting the 1. and the 16. of the month. Right now we're on the second day of the Feb. KAL, my third one.

I'm also doing the 'Petite Maison de Campagne' (eng. 'Little Country House') SAL over at Grille de Maryse. I'm still doing the January bit. I thought I was going to have it finished before Feb. rolled around but I haven't been as productive stitcher as I hoped for.

My stitching group, Allt í kross, is having a Secret SAL. I prepared for it weeks ago (about 2 weeks) and the first part comes today. Not that I will be doing any stitching tonight. It's our anniversary. Five years and counting.