Momartfully

Hourly Photo Project

Today was the "Hourly Photo Project" (see Andrea's blog entry for more details and a list of participants).

The assignment was to take one photo each hour of our day. I took the extra challenge and tried for no retakes - and didn't completely succeed - there were a couple unsteady shots I re-took. My day went fast - but it's wasn't literally a blur.

I took the photos with my camera phone and whatever environmental lighting there was for each event. Here's what my day looked like (or rather, what my day  was looking at)...

6 a.m.

On my way to catch the bus to work. The sun isn't even up yet, and the roads are pretty deserted.

7 a.m.

Knitting on the bus. I'm working on a ruffle scarf for my daughter - with yarn she picked out Click "Verve 110" and Shetland's Classic Wool in "Rich Red Tweed". I'm knitting with a 8mm bamboo circular needle - much easier to use on the bus during the rush hour squeeze than long straight needles. After all, I might poke someone - completely by accident. Of course. ;-)

8 a.m.

Already at the office, getting a start on my day and surveying my cubicle "flair";

• the pink pom-pom creature by my monitor is a "Warm Fuzzy" gift from one of my kids, made in Kindergarten class
• jewel case pumpkin calendar - a department project/perk. It's a major accomplishment that it's on the correct month today, usually it takes me a few days to change over
• my stand-up Swingline stapler - sadly in blue not iconic red.
• Various incarnations of sticky notes, because you can never have too many sticky notes

9 a.m.

I'm on my way to a meeting, and I stopped to peer over the handrail at the atrium in the center of the building. Allll the way down...

10 a.m.

Coffee break time - paid for, not free - because I don't look like my pet.

11 a.m.

In a meeting with a colleague, who was wearing these cute sandals. I'm wearing boots - I've already surrendered to Fall.

12 noon

Time to head out for some lunch. And some colour... any colour...

1 p.m.

Drinking yet more coffee (in an environmentally un-friendly cup) and feeling a little Twitchy now.

2 p.m.

Still working. Move along. Nothing much to see here, folks.

3 p.m.

My Veer "Excuses and Alibis and Reasons Why" spiral-bound cubicle swag. There's a bunch of photos with captions explaining why I'm not in my cubicle. The caption for this "Where Am I?" photo: "Daycare called. Another 'Incident'".

4 p.m.

Heading home from work, through the trees, looking at the stained glass bridge up above the sidewalk.

5 p.m.

Driving home in the car with M, we made a quick stop to drop off a very sexy stage light for a client of M's. M loves LED stage lights. If M had his way this is what our house would look like every Christmas.

6 p.m.

We took the kids to Red Lobster as a treat.

The kids enjoyed ripping various sea creatures to pieces. It was a quick (and tasty) demise.

7 p.m.

Bathtime. With Captain Rex, of course.

8 p.m.

Bedtime for both kiddos.

9 p.m.

A London Fog (Earl Grey & Lavender black tea, vanilla syrup & steamed milk) for mom while the kids settle down for the night... and maybe a little more knitting.

10 p.m.

Catching up on some great new media content; Did You Know 4.0  I enjoyed the video and I think I'll be using it at work (like many other great instructional videos) - even if I was momentarily Rick Roll'd.

11 p.m.

I'm in my pajamas and my bathrobe. Night everyone!

Scarf-o-ramma

It's scarf-o-ramma time (no, not that kind of scarfing). This kind of "scarfing":

 

Three scarves, hanging out (har, har).

• pink
  
  • knit horizontally (end-to-end)
  • dollar store find yarn (2-strand confetti chenille and eyelash)
  • cotton yarn for the center stripes
  • about 125 stitches long, 18 stitches wide (6 novelty/6cotton/6novelty)
  • I love the fringe - the confetti chenille yarn looks beautiful
  • this one's a gift scarf (for a little girl) who will LOVE having her own "feather boa" scarf
  
  
• grey - (previously mentioned, this is a better photo)
  
  • knit traditionally (side-to-side)
  • short scarf (for a 3 year old boy)
  • acrylic slub yarn (dollar store find)
  • 8 stitches wide, garter stitch
  • also a gift scarf (little boy)

• orange - (previously mentioned, this is a better photo)
  
  • knit side-to-side.
  • Each row is 15 stitches, garter stitch
  • I am not overly happy with this one, may rip it out and re-do it in a more lacy pattern
  • this scarf is also a gift

I found a great informative video on scarf trends (how to tie them, types for each season and tips).

More to come, of course!

What Will Your Kids Be (this week, anyway) & 3 Scarves

Based on your kid's interests lately, what would you say they would grow up to be?

My darling, dainty, Tinkerbell loving, pink-and-glitter-on-everything little girl wants to drive a big rig.

This week, anyway.

Our day home caregiver's husband is a long-haul truck driver. A couple weeks ago the caregiver's husband and grown son took the bigger kids to go visit his BIG truck.

She was HOOKED. Smitten. Clutching the steering wheel, chattering on the radio and waving out the window.

However that dashboard may be a wee bit of a problem - she probably should be able to see the road.

She even asked - I'm so not kidding - if I had any "tattoos" in the house. She wanted a tattoo - the wet transfer kind. I explained to her that real tattoos are made with needles and hurt. She didn't seem deterred.

Thankfully Miami Ink isn't on Treehouse TV.

My son normally states he wants to be an author. A children's author, a graphic novelist or "something like Percy Jackson" - as long as he's writing, he's happy.

But lately he's been all about trees.

He scaled every tree in my parent's commercial orchard this summer - and that's a LOT of trees.

He's building a treehouse in our back yard - by himself.

He spends almost all his time in the back yard hanging out in the trees, thinking, talking to friends and figuring out how to fasten the tree house to the tree without nails, "The nails hurt the tree, mom."

He's also perfecting his climbing skills by clinging to the door trim and climbing up the walls - or climbing up opposing walls in the hallway.

Peter Parker (Spiderman) was a writer, wasn't he?

Three Scarves

On the knitting front - I've been cranking out a lot of scarves this week. I knit when I'm stressed, and since I've resigned my current job and accepted another job offer - I'm just a wee bit stressed. It's change - and I'm not good with change - it's a good change, but still. Stress.

So, I'm knitting.

I'm going to be giving out a lot of scarves for Christmas. 

Finished this a "slubby" hand-dyed merino wool scarf in orange

...and this a gorgeous pure viscose moss stitch scarf in teal

...and this dollar store find! Grey mix slubby acrylic yarn

Now I'm working on another dollar store find scarf - a pink 2 strand (eyelash and chenille) yarn that will be combined with a pink organic cotton yarn (how's for a combination LOL). I'm also working on a purple kettle dyed merino wool scarf (it's sooo soft), some cotton dishcloths (always!) and thinking about tackling the goat yarn (that I first mentioned here).

I hope it'll be a cold winter.

Beehive Tea Cozy

I finished the beehive tea cozy for my sister`s birthday gift... and just in time!

This beehive design `theme`was inspired the beehive hat I spotted in "Stitch 'n' Bitch Nation" (great book!).

The tea cozy is knit on the round, then with each side panel worked separately until after the spout/handle openings - then worked in the round again to the top.

The liner is also worked in the round in the same way as the shell.

There`s also a ribbed edge at the bottom of the cozy (see photo left) to wrap around the bottom of a small teapot (say a 4-6 cup Brown Betty) or to extend the cozy on a larger teapot (a tall bone china model).

The tea cozy is accented with bee shaped buttons in two sizes - about 1 inch and .5 inches long. There were a couple choices of bee buttons at my local quilting store - these charming little stylized bees or a more realistic looking bee, antennas and all.

To be honest, the realistic bee buttons were a little creepy and wigged me out a bit (so not a bug fan!), so I went with these cute stylized ones.

This tea cozy is fluffy enough to keep my sister`s tea warm for hours. I use polyester fiberfill to stuff my tea cozies... and I knit with an acrylic yarn for all my tea cozies - so they are washable.

Phoenix bag

I have almost finished the `Phoenix bag`project - a laptop bag project for a single mom friend. I need to finish the seams and half of the handle and it`s done!

My single mom friend asked for a `funky`bag that she could carry when traveling. Anything BUT purple. I chose reds and oranges - and found some great spendy yarns on sale at my local yarn store (LYS) for a great price. I love the warm colours of this bag... they remind me of a Phoenix bird - and a Phoenix is a very appropriate image for this single mom friend.

The bag is made from a combination of yarns:

• Opus merino/aloe vera/jojoba `slub`style yarn (orange colour `400`)
• merino `feathers` for the furry trim - a lightweight kettle dyed novelty yarn in red shades - combinde with a cotton in orange (still lots of this left, need to find another project for this yarn)
• orange cotton
• burgundy and red acrylic

The bag is stitched on the round (for the body of the bag) with an extended flap on one side that folds back on itself to line the flap.

The bag is stitched in stocking stitch, seed stitch, a 2x5 rib, and a bit of garter stitch.

The pieces are (clockwise from top):

• the bag itself (folded in thirds)
• the bag handle (spool knitting by the kids)
• a cellphone pocket that will be removable

(I mentioned this project previously as one of the things that make mommy happy).

I loved the feel of the Opus yarn, it is so incredibly soft and the colour was gorgeous (and I am not a fan of oranges normally) - but it did shed quite a bit and the airborne fibers with the added oils were a bit irritating to my family of allergy sufferers - so if you have allergies, I`d suggest a good stiff breeze while knitting with this stuff.

It`s hard to let go of a gorgeous object like this one, but I know she`ll love it - and use it.

Things That Make Mommy Happy

"It's so important to make Mommy happy. Just make one Mommy happy... make Mommy happy, and you will be happy, too." That's how the song goes... isn't it?

Things that made me happy in the last few days:

1) My new PDA. Sooo lovely. My first PDA. I feel spoiled and very loved that M made this all possible. My favourite features so far:

• the weather report is adorable - animated reports for all my friends on the interweb... and the little windshield wiper animation that clears the screen of digital raindrops when the weather report is for rain... makes a rainy day something to look forward to.
• great games - including two games -out of the box - that my little-ish kids can play and enjoy. THIS IS A VERY VITAL FEATURE in a phone or PDA for single or busy moms with bored kids. I don't know HOW many times I've distracted them with my phone. The best game so far is a tilt-the-marble into the box game that has live feedback (the phone "bumps" with the marble) and takes advantage of the PDA's positional sensor. I'll have to videotape it to show you.
• YouTube and Opera - Eddie Izzard videos everywhere I go - so at least I can laugh while living life in the frantic lane.
• touch interface. So cool. Also pretty.
• Microsoft Mobile. I know what all the iPhone users will respond with. But I do have to work, too, and MS is necessary for work.

2) Knitting group with friends. Lots of yarny projects. And lots of yarns. Ha.
We're still not sure what to call ourselves, the kids would be scandalized by the traditional knitting group of women name "Stitch n' B*tch" so the discussion continues. The half-joking nickname of "the Coven" has come up - it refers to some -er- social difficulties we've had due to our single parent status in our... traditional and conservative local environment.

3) Momtinis and friends. This week's knitting group Momtini was Arbour Mist Exotic Fruits White Zinfandel wine and Fresca, garnished with an orange... and a drinking straw cut in half (because I'm too absent-minded to remember to buy cocktail straws. Bad hostess. LOL)

I'm not saying we're cheap dates - or that single mommies love cheap hooch... but we're all on a budget, and a celebratory drink that is affordable is very much appreciated by parents of limited means.

4) A bead necklace from my youngest - re-strung on elastomer instead of plain old yarn. The yarn died. Poor yarn. I feel loved wearing it because of how loved it makes me feel - and because of how loved my kids feel when they see me wearing items they've made.

5) A new knitting project - a laptop bag for a single mom friend - using some new yarns I recently purchased including a hand spun merino wool/aloe vera combination slub yarn (soooo lovely to touch!) and a kettle dyed merino wool "feather" novelty yarn plus some lovely cotton combo yarns. It will be a combination of red and orange tones - and reminds me of a pheonix.

A pheonix is a very fitting image for for the single mom friend I'm designing this for, who also...

6) ...just started blogging.

The more sucessful single moms voices out there blogging, the better, I say!

My Knitting Bag Runneth Over

My knitting bag runneth over. My yarn stash is taking over the house. I'm collecting more needles than a hospital. I need to finish something soon. A sample of the current projects in my knitting bag:

A camouflage hoodie sweater for my son for the start of the next school year. I'm still working on the back panel. This is the first real garment I've worked on and there's lots of new things I'm learning while working through it. Like how MUCH knitting and yarn a full garment requires (how do people afford exotic yarn garments?)

My son is enjoying watching his sweater take shape and offering lots of encouragement like: "Isn't it done YET?"

I'm also working on a whole stack of cotton dishcloths. I have two huge (!) balls of cotton kitchen yarn to use up. One ball of yarn is a tan/green/ivory mix (below) and the other is a light beige/ivory/yellow mix. I've already made up six dishcloths - four went to a friend bride-to-be, two went to some single mom friends. More are on their way for more friends.

I love knitting these things on bamboo needles - it feels very organic and environmentally enlightened and green-righteous. Maybe I should consider it Karmic payback for all the acrylic kids' hats I've been cranking out.

Today I've got new projects to add to the project list, mainly because I got sucked into a craft store and spent far too long in the knitting section. Again.

• my very first pair of socks (bought some cute! self-striping wool today). I'm completely annoyed by double pointed needles (DPNs) because they slip out of my work constantly. I've purchased some DPN bamboo needles to see if that will help. Otherwise socks may defeat me.
• a pair of legwarmers for my daughter (more self-striping yarn, cotton this time)
• a three jewel tone colour scarf knit in a gorgeous silk/bamboo yarn that I can't stop touching

Next week - the first meeting of the single moms knitting group. We're tossing around lots of name ideas but haven't decided on any yet. We bought the kids some knitting project supplies today and I think the kids are looking forward to it more than the grownups.

Well, not really.

Iris "Art Object" Bag, Dahling

*** Oooh look! Pretty! New stuff! Project thumbnail images over there ------------->

One particular friend - who works in a vuheeeery aaaarrrrrtsy visual field, dahling - asked me if I could knit her a mid-sized bag to wear across her body (diagonally) that was "artistic, funky, cool". So I started designing one for her a couple weeks ago. Here's where I am... so far.

I started with the colour palette of jewel toned yarn in royal purple/teal/hot pink, a set of circular needles, some pony beads and some rudimentary knitting knowledge (six months of knitting experience, so far). I planned on a variety of textured stitching, an abstract colour pattern, some bead embellishments and fushia lining and embroidery.

Since the week I started this bag was the week the Irises began blooming here and the bag featured similar colours - I've dubbed this the "Iris Bag".

Here's a view of the back of the bag looking toward the top of the bag (where the knitting needle is still holding stitches) and with the top flap open and upside down.
It's an abstract colour pattern combined with abstract texture changes (knit vs purl).

Here's the lining, in hot pink stocking stitch. That colour was a nice work out for my retinas.

Here's the bag structure - it's one long continuous tube, knit with circular needles (seamless). To turn it into a bag you telescope one section inside another, extend one side to make the flap lining and then fold the the flap over over the lining. There's a seam at the bottom, at the top (where the end of the flap meets the top of the bag), at the top front (lining meets bag exterior) and along the sides of the flap.

More to come...

Teal "Posy" bag

I was experimenting with little purse designs - knit hats aren't really in demand now that Spring has arrived (at least it's theoretically arrived). My daughter asked for a bag with flowers on it. Crocheted flowers.

I'm a complete moron at crochet, so I flubbed my way through some leaves and droopy flowers "Make them droooopy mom, like this..." (as she dramatically drapes herself on the couch).

The bag is knit completely on the round (circular needles) in stocking stitch, with a seam at the bottom (with tucks) and a seam on one side of the handle. I think for the next bag I will  seam it in the top/middle of the handle instead. Like the pink bobble bag. Live & learn.

I love the combination of teal and the various pinks. The bag turned out nicer than I hoped - my daughter was thrilled - and a couple other little girls have asked for Posy bags, so I guess it's a success.

A little bear - flush with cash - all ready for a trip with his favourite girl. Okay, maybe not flush with cash, it is just a dollar. And it is Canadian money. Worth about what - $0.25 US?

Pink Bobble Bag

Another knitted bag project - two pink colour variations - with knitted bobbles for trim. Knit on circular needles, in stocking stitch. This is the first time I've tried knitting bobbles. I think they're adorable.

The shoulder strap has a seam in the center and there are tucks at the bottom seam to create a nice flat side.

The shoulder strap is in stocking stitch, so it curls in on itself nicely. The bag is unlined.

I'm pretty happy with the bag and I'll be using it as a basic design for a few little girl bags over the next few months.

Catching up. Catch all? Ketchup?

Well, I'm finally catching up after a couple weeks of non-stop action. I realize that "non-stop action" makes the last couple weeks sound much more appealing and exciting than they really were. By action I mean traipsing back and forth to the hospital, cleaning up vomit and kitten poop (she HAD to contribute!) and cuddling sick kids. Other exciting action:

• dealing with the virus that tried to maim our family
• recovering from the virus that tried to maim our family
• noticing the house kinda fell apart while the virus ruled supreme
• falling into bed and ignoring the house of virus for another night
• waking up cranky because no magical cleaning fairy visited while I slept
• coffee = all better!

Everybody's recovering nicely from the virus, my daughter's Asthma is back under good control. My son just had a mild cold and the Zen Master simply willed the germs out of his body (actually he got sick - stoically sick - too, but he prefers the Zen Master version). I'm still struggling but well medicated - just not with the fun medicines. Things are improving nicely.

The Art Goes On

As always, the art goes on in our house, come famine, flood or 'flu. Last week's "Friday photo" from work is one of the newest additions to my proud mommy bulletin board. Centered riiiiiiiight over my desk at work.

Yes, I'm one of those annoyingly proud moms at work and I decorate my office with the sometimes incomprehensible scribbles my kids crank out. It makes my kids happy and it gives people who visit my office something to desperately stare at while I talk with my hands.

This particular piece is two trees, vines and a monkey flanking a lovely Beavelesaurus specimen. "He's half beaver, half elephant, and half Stegosaurus."

Yes, I know, three halves.
Her math skills will make her a fine Canadian politician some day. So proud.

Knitting Update

Much knitting has been going on... unfortunately not a lot of taking photographs of said knitting has been going on. I made a small stack of dishcloths to give away to a bride-to-be last weekend. Since I'm making stacks more for friends I figured I could take photos later.

I'm almost finished the art piece/purse for Monica - I like to call it the Iris bag, the colours remind me of irises in full bloom. Photos to come.

If Ever There was a Reason to Say SQUEEE!

M came home with a present for me. For me!

Adobe CS4 - Design Premium. Don't hate me because it's beautiful. I've lusted after a home copy for years (ever since my previous Adobe software became obsolete - and it was purchased in the 90s!).

I haven't loaded it on to my machine yet.

Yet.

I just like to look at it.

So happy.

(...and no, this isn't a product endorsement or a free sample I was asked to review. If and/or when I review products on my blog it's because I actually like them and use them and I've most likely paid for them myself.)

Little Girl's Rainbow Bag

Just finished a few hand-knit bags for girls (some little, a couple grown up) over the past week, and I will be posting them in the next few days (I've been recovering from a nasty cold and trip to the hospital, and the enforced inactivity/recovery has increased my knitting output lately).

First, the Rainbow Bag, made for a friend of my son's, knit on the round, in acrylic (so it's washable). She absolutely LOVES it. The handle is long enough to sit under her arm or as a nice little handbag/clutch. I made it big enough for little girl essentials (lip gloss, Kleenex and a Barbie wallet) without being too big for the little girl. It's about 8 inches wide.

The body of the purse is stocking stitch, the top flap is in garter stitch - with smaller stripes. The handle is also stocking stitch, curled in on itself. There's also a flat insert at the bottom of the bag and darts on either side.

The toggle closure - with a stitched buttonhole (I made it as sturdy as possible).

A view of the inside of the purse - underside of the top flap. It was knit on the round, the flap is a double-length extension, folded over and seamed on the underside. The front edge is stocking stitch curled on itself.

Would You Call It Cheating?

Work is stressful, the kids are sick with the stomach flu (SO much fun) and I have a stubborn headache. I think I would rather concentrate on knitting today. My solace, my refuge... my sanity.

When I originally began learning how to knit (more than 4 whole months ago) I bought the Klutz Press Knitting kit . I loved it, loved the hat pattern (obvious, I know). I figured the Klutz Press Crochet book would help overcome my crochet "issues".

When I cracked open the kit I had some serious doubts. I had a serious case of yarn lust. The yarn in the kit is two colors - lilac and a beautiful blue-green speckled combination. I loved it. Smooth, beautiful drape, shiny and soft... it's so pretty - I thought - why would I waste it on my (most likely to be) pathetic and failed attempts at crochet?

But some small neurotic corner of my brain considers that to be something like cheating. I'm cheating on my brand new relationship with crochet. What kind of crochet relationship can I possibly hope for if I'm not willing to commit the good yarn to my crochet hook?

Would you call it cheating if I used ugly yarn to crochet and saved the pretty stuff for knitting? Would the yarn know? Is that a venial sin or a mortal sin (I suppose the degree of sin depends on how bad my crochet turns out). Am I cheating or am I saving the beautiful yarn from a fate worse than... well... there's not much worse than my crochet efforts.

The other knitting issue I have is a whole different bag. What DO crafty people carry their... stuff... in?

I have Rubbermaid tubs for my yarn "stash" (and my yarn "stash" is growing exponentially, something like I remember the 'Monster Dough' growing in my mother's fridge). I have a folding dowel and fabric "granny style" yarn holder next to my reading chair... but I'm struggling with the craft bag to carry my knitting around in. To work, to "Stitch and Bitch" and... well... everywhere I go. I'm addicted.

 Some knitters carry reusable shopping bags, some carry fancy expensive crafty bags... and at least one person I know is using a diaper bag for their knitting or crochet. Right now I'm using a twine bag (left) - which looks lovely and provokes compliments... but it's not working out that great.

While it's cute and artsy - it's crocheted twine. My mind BOGGLES when I think about what poor third world country woman made this bag - what did her poor hands look like after crocheting horrible scratchy nasty TWINE for hours? I bought it from a "fair trade" store, which I like the idea of doing. Go me! I love the fact that it's biodegradable and made of natural renewable materials - again go me!

The problem is, it sheds nasty little fibers all over my projects and the bag is saturated with slivers of wood. It's really not "touch friendly" and my clothes, knitting and everything has twine sheddings all over.

So I am using another bag inside of it to mitigate the slivers and fibers on my projects, at least... and I'm trying not to touch the bag when I'm carrying it on my shoulder. You can imagine how that looks as I wander around leaning to one side to avoid touching the slivered, shedding wonder bag.

The shoulder strap on the twine bag also stretches horribly so the bag ends up swinging around somewhere near my KNEES - and I'm I'm amazon tall! It would drag on the floor behind normal women.

Such a pretty picture, I know.

My questions are:

1. Do I: line the bag and shoulder strap and continue being artsy and biodegradable, etc? Bonus points for being determined and customizing it.
2. Do I: ask for a craft-type bag for Mother's day and completely surrender my artistic coolness to the realities of my identity as a craft mom?
3. Do I: search for a different artsy bag and hope for the best?
4. Do I: stop stressing, lie down for a bit and then MAKE MY OWN DAMN BAG.

Also, can you WASH a twine bag? Maybe that will remove the wooden fibers? Do I want something I can't even WASH? Ick!

What do YOU use to tote your crafts? What would be the best craft bag ever?

Keeping a Sick Kid Busy (Dress Up Dolls)

How do you keep a sick kid busy?  Keeping sick kids occupied is my Waterloo - especially when my darling children "share" their colds with me. I prefer to keep them on the couch or in bed with a box of tissues, a "barf bowl" and an ear thermometer nearby. Sometimes they have to be immobile for tests (DS has to lie still for EEGs and EKGs) or at the hospital (the worst is after after a Ventolin neb treatment for Asthma, so jittery!).

I usually load them up with a snack, books, some music and some small toys - which keeps them occupied for at least 30 seconds.

So I pull out the craft supplies (can you hear me saying "Ta Da!" in my head?)

Warning: move your good craft, sewing, knitting and other supplies out of reach (way out of reach!) before your kids start hunting for supplies for their "projects". Once they've started hunting for materials - it's like trying to stop a herd of wildebeests. They'll grab anything that looks good, especially if it's expensive and you've already made plans for it and the sight of a gaping hole in that lovely trim or your chopped up bit of mohair yarn is enough to drive you completely around the bend...

Not that anything like that has happened to me.

One of our favourite sick kid activity: dress up dolls.

Draw a doll-shape on felt fabric & cut out. Hand your child some felt fabric, washable markers, a glue stick, safety scissors, stickers and paper patterns traced from the doll to make a "wardrobe".

The doll needed underwear. With pink polka-dots.

Use tassel trim for doll hair (see above) and attach it to the doll firmly. Tassel trim doll hair tangles less and has a curly, shiny look and it takes a lot less time to attach than wool hair. Use other trim types for hats, crowns and skirts (the crown above is really trim with spangles, so is the pink skirt below). I buy bags and bags of trim remnants from fabric stores - it works great and it's inexpensive.

Felt, heavier weight cardboard (cereal boxes, gift bags) and construction paper all work for dress-up doll sets, too. Pipe cleaners, stickers and paper doilies can also add some variety to their "wardrobe". Keep it all in a plastic container with a lid (the lid can be the work surface and stage) with the designer supplies - and you can recycle the "wardrobe" when the kids are bored with it.

Even your other kids can get in on the fashion designer action - or you can make them "dolls" more suitable for their taste; dress up the monster, dress the alien, outfit the horse, or one of my favourites, the "Pediatric Picasso" felt shapes for making abstract art work (very popular in kids hospitals).

The point isn't to make it perfect, it's about experimenting and keeping their minds off feeling sick.

Other great projects? Hand them a "puppet kit" - a box of pipe cleaners, clean old socks and stickers. For more patient kids origami or paper airplanes might keep them occupied. A flashlight in a darkened room is great for hand shadows... or my favourite as a kid - macrame friendship bracelets and even plant hangers (an I.V. pole is fantastic for hanging macrame or skeins of wool off of BTW).

Have fun and get well soon!

Little Red (and pink, and orange) Riding Poncho

Well, the poncho for my daughter is done - the poncho with no end, as I called it.

I seriously never thought it would end - I got so used to knitting hats that I was spoiled with my expectations of how long it took to get a "finished object" (FO). I was in denial about how much square footage of knitting it takes to turn out a poncho. Even for a little kid as skinny as my string-bean daughter.

In retrospect, the poncho should have been a project for the knitting machine - but since I haven't unpacked the machine yet, or checked & oiled it, and the clock was ticking (this is a project for Spring) I needed to knit this project by hand ASAP.

Besides the machine still scares me, a little.

The hood turned out lovely (ignore the ends-they're not woven in yet)

The view from the back with the hood down.

So here is Little Red (and pink, and orange) Riding... Poncho... in all her glory. (There's more photos in Ravelry).

My daughter LOVES it, it knit up nice and soft and with a lovely feel. She adores the colors (Pattons "Astra" light (3) weight yarn in the colour "High Energy").

I still haven't woven in the ends, but I wanted to take some photos of the poncho while my daughter was awake.

I created this pattern myself, inspired by a crochet pattern from Bernat (requires membership to view), but knit instead of crochet (see below for instructions). I used 4 balls of yarn with maybe 5 meters of yarn left over - which was kind of tight, so I recommend using 5 balls just in case. The extra can be used for fringe, a tassel on the hood, a matching doll poncho or matching knit bag...

IMHO it's always better to have too much yarn than too little.

Next project: a camouflage pattern sweater for my son, using this Bernat "Camo Kids" pattern. It's the last pattern on the list-the "Hooded Pullover". I'll be making it with "Renegade" colour "Camo" medium weight yarn (that name made me giggle-I haven't met many renegades wearing a sweater their mom knit-but my son picked out that colour, so that's what we'll go with).

On to the good stuff... here's the pattern in PDF format Enjoy!

Recycled Knitting

I spent quite a bit of time today playing with garbage.

No, that isn't an April Fool's Day joke.

I am going to try knitting up some recycled material projects to give away to family and friends. I will be using plastic bag yarn also known as "PLARN" (created from recycled grocery bags) and old VHS tapes, inspired by Craft Stylish and My Recycled Bags. I found a great tutorial on cutting up plastic bags to make one bag into a long strand of plastic yarn, and another tutorial on making loops to form into plastic yarn. I will also be using old pantyhose (washed!), and I will also be trying out some other recycled materials... whatever I can find that looks promising.

I have an idea about what they'll be for (they won't be the ubiquitous recycled material shopping bags) and it's something almost every mom I know could use... I'll just have to see if it works out the way I hope it will. This has the potential to be popular with my friends and family, fairly easy to make, and very useful. I'm very excited!

God's Sense of Humour in the Bookstore

As we often do M the kids and I ended up at a book store this evening. Judging from the number of books in bookcases in our home (and even more telling the number of books that don't fit in the bookcases) this isn't an unusual circumstance for us. The additional motivating factor we had for our bookstore visit was the gift card burning a hole in my son's pocket (a birthday present from his biological father). He wanted to spend it. Now!

There are some days where I can see the "hand of God" in everyday things... and I know that God has a sense of humor. Our bookstore trip yielded:

• Domiknitrix - I was very reluctant to return this book to the library, but I did, just this morning. I really loved that book. I hadn't seen a copy of it in any knitting section of any bookstore I've been in recently. I loved that book - but I knew I needed to return it. That's what libraries are all about (this is a hard concept for me... this sharing thing).

So I let it go.

It is rather Karmic that I found it the same night at the random bookstore we wandered in to - and it had never been in stock before.

• a sheep puppet (from Folkmanis), slightly damaged and on sale.

I've been trying to make myself a stuffed sheep (with hideous results) for a month. The sheep puppet we found tonight is so adorable... and since I'm a zodiac Sheep I'm rather partial to it.

Especially as it's "slightly damaged" - aren't we all?

I must confess, we have a puppet problem in this household - we probably more than a dozen Folkmanis puppets in our house, including some we special ordered - a few of our puppets are now discontinued "collector's items" (who knew?). I think they're still more valuable to us - but it is nice to know there's a secondary college fund available, if needed.

• I also found the book Momma Zen - on sale for $5.00.

After my post about M the Zen Master yesterday, how could I resist a book with that title?

God certainly has a sense of humor!

Maybe a Little Too Excited About a Knitting Machine

While I have been accused of being a "knitting machine" lately... I am nothing compared to this baby:

My mother is in town visiting, and she dug out her old knitting machine and has given it to me. (squeal!) The machine was serviced a while ago, and it's a wee bit dusty... but from what I've been able to find online it's considered a fairly good quality machine. A Singer Chunky Knitter (model 150).

Mom also managed to find the books that go with the knitting machine (below). Great early 80s print design samples (brutal coil-bound, monospaced font instructions, but kinda charming, too).

 

Here's the machine lid open, looking at the still packed knitting machine. Sooooo pretty.

Some knitting samples (Mom held on to these, too).

There's samples of color patterns and stitch patterns. Even Fair Isle. I may swoon.

There is even an adorable "Wool Winder".

It's French name is "Bobinoir", but I have officially dubbed it "The Bobbinator").

Here is this baby in action (sans yarn) in a short video: The Bobinator. Just look at that beige-ish and orange plastic goodness!

I can't wait to try this stuff. Any ideas on what I could make? I know it's quite a switch from hand-knits, but I'm excited. I know I'll be making quite a few dishcloths... and lots of swatches that I'll probably carry around with me for days... pulling them out at odd moments and squealing in excited tones:

"Do you see THAT? It's from a knitting machine! Isn't that exciting?"
"Wait, why are you running away? I have more swatches..."
"Have you seen my Bobinator video yet?"

Last Friday - Yarn Explosion and Tim Hortons Karma

Every Friday I take a screenshot at work. It's usually fairly quiet, most people around here arrange their work week so they can have Fridays off.

I brought my knitting in to work for some lunchtime amusement. My pull-from-the-center hank of yarn was tangled and getting worse, so I unravelled the whole thing to re-roll it in a ball. (Bad yarn. Bad!) It took longer than I expected to re-roll it all... and made a huge mess, but now that my circular needles are firmly embedded in the yarn it should behave. ;-)

I'm one of those people who usually works through lunches - in a large part because of the heavy workload, but also because once I'm "in the groove" at work it's tough to interrupt the "flow" to go sit somewhere else wishing I had something to do.

On a related note, I still haven't won a single "roll up the rim to win" prize (I've been faithful, Timmy, why oh why do you taunt me so?) M has won a prize or two - but his Karma is phenomenal in all areas of life. I swear whenever we enter a parking lot there's some Karmic minion of his in the spot closest to the door just waiting for him to approach and they dutifully back out so he can have the best spot in the lot.

Everyone else I know has to pack a tent and survival gear so they can last through the hike from the furthest corner of the parking lot to the store.

M can even get a spot close to the door at Costco. COSTCO!

Judging from my Tim Hortons non-Karma I think I must have been something horrible in a former life and responsible for harming millions of life forms in some way. Now the universe is conspiring to pay me back. I have no idea what I could have been... exterminator, antibiotic inventor, lawyer... Member of Parliament..

Not that I'm bitter... I'm happy to tag along on his Karmic heels and enjoy the deflected glory and peripheral benefits like parking spots.

Besides, he's cute.

Project Poncho

My daughter asked for a poncho for Spring. Because we're optimists that way (yes, I know it's only March... in Canada. Don't kill the dream.)

We went shopping and she picked out a crochet poncho pattern:

Crochet! Augh!

Now, I have to explain something here. I don't crochet. I know that knitting (2 needles) and crochet (1 needle with a hook) look remarkably similar to the uninitiated. But they're not. I am the cautionary tale that illustrates that point:

• Knitting I can do. See me whip off hats and tea cozies and lots of lovely things.
• Crochet? My only crochet experience was trying to make a "star" and having to be cut out of my efforts by a high school friend. Not only mortifying but makes a great story for reunions!
  

I've never crocheted again. I figured we were all safer that way.

Since I don't crochet I decided to improvise the poncho pattern in garter stitch using the two-rectangle layout the crochet pattern featured. Essentially: make the substance of the poncho differently, but the design is the same.

My daughter managed to find yarn that looked almost exactly like the pattern photo (when you're almost 5 the photo is what sells. Thank you dear God for having yarn just like this in the store that day. I owe you.)

So far it's going well. I'm totally jinxing myself, I know.

It's an acrylic yarn - I knit for kids.

Crochet Pattern from Bernat: "Easy Ponchos" (requires membership, but available for free)

Hats for Greece

I've been busy. Three hats will be making their way to my friend Angie who lives in Greece* this weekend:

 

 

* Although I know that Greece is a big country with LOTS of different areas... with some huge cities... I continuously picture Angie and her kids reclining on a deserted white sand beach with wind-swept rocks and Cyprus trees behind them.

And me.

I wish!

(...and oh yeah, check out the snag on the bottom one. The cat thought she should be part of the photo shoot. BAD CAT! I will be pulling that snag back in before mailing these off. Good thing I love that kitten.)

Finished the purple hat

I finished the purple hat today, and I like the way it turned out. The ladies in the knitting group all liked it too, and loved the idea that I'm knitting hats for almost every kid in my son's class.

I think it's a lovely project, too... the kids are thrilled, I'm getting LOTS of practice, and it's fun...  even if it does seem a little endless at times. It is a lot of hats!

But... it is also an excuse to play around with stitches and try new things, so it's a great way to experiment but stay productive.

Now, on to work on three hats to ship off half way around the world (to Greece).

Knit Therapy

Lately there’s been a LOT of stress around Casa "momartfully". While M and I are doing fine and are as secure (as anyone is, these days) as we can be, there’s a lot of pain around us.

Aside from the current economic climate having some impact on those we know there is a lot of unhappiness among a lot of people about their current employment (I won’t be more specific, so exhale). Problems run the gamut from toxic employees, insane commutes, and insane demands all the way to the root of the problem - an adversarial employer. There’s also personal stress… recent unemployment, frustrating job searches, couple issues, some pending custody wrangling and health issues.

I can’t do a great deal to help (not until my winning 6/49 ticket comes in!) but my one suggestion to many of my friends is:

Knit.

If *I* can do it, anyone can. I’m entirely serious, I may be an artist, but that doesn’t mean I’m coordinated, and even I eventually figured out knitting.

I know, arming a frustrated friend with sharp, pointy sticks when they are about to go postal on the world seems… well… a little dim. I don’t think it’s all that misguided, though, because of my personal results. I am finding knitting quite therapeutic - amazingly so – and thank goodness!

I was in trouble - BIG trouble. Work-related stress had put me into a state where my health was compromised – when my doctor pulled me off of work for a break I was in the middle of a hypertensive crisis. In my doctor’s words “I was a ticking time bomb, a stroke waiting to happen.” All my life I’ve had low blood pressure, I  only developed high blood pressure recently – and my doctor was convinced that it was directly related to my current work environment. After some sick leave, counseling/therapy, blood pressure medications, anti-anxiety medications, sleeping medications and treating the resulting pancreatitis flare up… I’ve gone back to work.

To deal with the stress that’s returned in my life I took up knitting, and not only is it helpful in reducing my stress level, I’ve also lost weight. I found out that losing weight when you take up knitting isn’t uncommon, in many places it’s jokingly referred to as the “knitting diet”.

And I’ve met new friends. Joined a new online group. And that helps immensely. I get out of the house one evening a week to go sit, relax and knit. And chat. It helps. It seems that knitting really IS therapy.  So now I can deal with some of the stress through knitting, and I hope it can help others, too.

(image from Veer)

What do you think, a sweater?

At the pool this past weekend while one child was having their swimming lesson and the other was cuddled up to me waiting for their turn I sat in the lounge next to the pool, knitting away at the cat sling. I was knitting on the round (my favourite) and piecing together some very bright leftover scraps from my yarn stash and playing around with a variety of stitch patterns and effects.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see a sweet little girl from another family in an obviously homemade sweater running around and waiting for her turn, too.

The little girl's dad was sitting nearby, and kept watching me knit when he thought I wasn't looking. Then the little girl in the sweater climbed into her dad's lap to cuddle.

"What do you think?" he said to his daughter, "Is that a hat or a sweater" and he nodded toward my knitting.

"A sweater" said the girl.

I looked up "It's a cat sling" I said, thinking they'd be intrigued.

"A whaaa...?" said the dad.

"A cat sling" I smiled.

He promptly turned his back on me, and that was the end of our conversation.

Well. I guess I'm too weird for them, but I am left wondering who made the sweater the little girl was wearing. Maybe he did?

A knitting Dad would be cool. I would have liked to talk to another knitter, regardless.

Despite the negative reaction, I'm still working on the cat sling. Even if it's a weird project ... it's needed... and it's turning out cute. I'm having fun experimenting with cables, different stitch patterns and colour.

But maybe I'll stick to knitting sweaters, in public. :-)

Purple hat for C

The purple hat is coming along nicely. It's a gift for a little girl in one of my children's classes. She's very excited about it, especially the colour and the extra "pretty" features of this hat; "Fun Fur" and pony beads. This is the first time I've ever used "Fun Fur" yarn for a knitting project, so far it's not that difficult. I am using the "Fun Fur" yarn with the main yarn (knitting both together).

I have noticed that the "Fun Fur" section of the hat is "furrier" on the purled side of my work, so for the "fur" stripe on the hat I've been purling that section.

I'm planning on finishing this hat around March 3rd.

Cat Sling Project

This is the motivation for my next big knitting project; the kitten.

Our new(ish) kitten is a snuggle bug, she loves to sit on us or be carried around. Even by the kids. The problem is that when I'm trying to work at the computer she wants to lie on my arms - or on the keyboard - which doesn't help my already questionable typing skills.

I wasn't sure what to do about this - I don't want to discourage her from snuggling, and I don't want to break her spirit - she's an absolutely loving, trusting little kitten, and I want to treasure that part of her personality.

But I need to type for work and for play.

The kitten suggested the solution herself. She started crawling inside my sweater (or housecoat if I was up late) to snuggle, perched on my chest, away from my arms, out of the way, but still close - and she would fall asleep there, warm, purring, close to my heartbeat and utterly content. I kept thinking 'This is just like having a baby in a sling' and realized - I could make a sling for the cat.

And I thought - what a great knitting project!

So I Googled cat sling - a few other cat owners have put cats in slings, but I couldn't find a knitting pattern for a sling. I realized this would be a great opportunity to use up all the odd ends of yarn left over from my completed projects. So that's what I'm working on right now (in addition to a trillion kid hat orders, don't worry, those are in production too!). I'll try to create a pattern for the cat sling, too, once I'm done.

And maybe a picture of my happy cat hanging out in her new sling

Knitting Like Crazy

My current Facebook status: "...is knitting, like crazy - or crazy, like knitting", and it's true. I've been cranking out a lot of knitting projects since I finally learned how to knit just over one month ago:

	Sarah's purple hat		baby W-D's hat		Trish's multicoloured hat
	Jenny's Multi-coloured hat		Trish's coffee sleeve		Blue hat for Monica
	Baby F's hat		Apple tea cozy		3 hats & doll scarf

I started knitting as therapy - I needed something to de-stress with, and knitting was relatively easy to learn, available, repetitive, productive and creative. 

I won't say it's inexpensive... as I've now become a knit-a-holic. My yarn stash grew overnight and now fills two large Rubbbermaid tubs. My vocabulary has also grown - I'm now using phrases like "yarn stash". I am not, however, a "yarn snob" (see me wield my new words!) as I am pretty indiscriminate about what I buy. My selection process is essentially "Oooh, pretty!" and I might check the gauge (yes, another exclusive knitter-type word - swoon!)

There's a whole yarn shopping creed that I was unaware of. Oblivious. I am seduced by colours and how things feel... but also cost. If it's cheap, I'm happy. I haven't yet braved the depths of knitting specialty stores because I've heard stories (whispered like legends by my knitting group) about exotics like alpaca and bamboo and slub... that cost more than the food I put on the table.

In reality... I'm knitting for kids. Every child (okay, it seems like every child) in the school has asked for a hat. Cheap, plentiful and most importantly washable is what's called for - even if it's Red Heart acrylic yarn (gasp!).

I also joined a weekly knitting group in the area - and I like it. It's fun. I look forward to it. I also joined Ravelry, an on-line knitting group.

I may never leave the house again.

And I am now, officially, old.

I fear I've lost my cachet as a "cool" mom (I delude myself, I know!) with this whole knitting thing. It's so... grandmotherly. So... sedentary. So... bifocals. Except, as I pointed out to M - we could, technically, be grandparents at our ages.

So I'll enjoy my knitting, the knitting group... and probably a sooner-than-later need for bifocals and my eventual acceptance of my advancing age.

But I can still order cool t-shirts.