Knit 1, Crochet 2

It will be my Smooshy!

Ok, I mangled a line from one of my all-time favorite movies. But still, I love me the Smooshy. I think the mailman was playing with my Smooshy, because even though Erin at Eat.Sleep.Knit shipped on Saturday, I didn't get it until Thursday! And it was shipped Priority Mail! I've always sworn it takes forever for things to get here in hell Arizona. We went out to dinner and I grabbed it from the mailbox to stroke feel how soft it was in the car. Soooo soft and the color so deep and gorgeous. I was in love.

It quickly became...



And on Friday night I finally picked a pattern and started knitting. The yarn is truly lovely to work with and I love the color more every time I pick it up. These are for me! Imagine that, hmm? I can't wait to wear them. Speaking of which. Those of you that knit socks and wear them, how do you show them off? What shoes do you wear them with? I'm looking for new clogs, but I have trouble with ones that have too high an arch. **ETA - Helps if I include the picture, hmm?



Of course, no blog post of mine would be complete without some baby knitting. I finally figured out what I had to do about not getting gauge on Anouk and started knitting yesterday (In the recommended yarn and colors. I NEVER do that! I'm a little over pink right now.) while it rained all day (a rare occurrence here in Arizona) and we watched movies. However, I'm not so sure I figured it all out right. It looks small and I was hoping it would fit the baby when she is 6 months old. The bottom is 12" across. My math is telling me that it should be 12.25 for the small. What do you think?



I finished the Baby Bell Bottoms.



You can see that they are not all pink. Because I ran out of yarn. Even though there were 2 knots in each skein, I still wouldn't have had enough. So, if you plan on making these, make sure to order an extra skein. Unless you like a contrasting waistband, of course. :)

Yarn: Knitpicks Shine, Blush
Needles: Knitpicks Options (I LOVE these needles), size 6
Time to knit: A few evenings (with plenty of interruptions)

Also note that as you are knitting the top, what you think is the back is actually the front. Keep that in mind when you find yet another d&*m knot in the yarn. I loved the yarn, but that just pisses me off. I plan on knitting another pair in purple, just the 6 months size. I have 3 skeins of yarn, which should be plenty.

Thank you for your get well wishes! I'm doing better, I just wish that I could get rid of the cough.

I've also been sewing, but that's for another post. Meanwhile, I think I want a serger.

Back to the baby knitting factory!

**Special thanks to my personal photographer, Brian. Love ya, babe.**

Posted by Heather at 3:33 PM 4 comments

More baby knits

See what I bought myself with my Christmas bonus? Brian is out of his swift job, but I don't think he minds.

I pulled out my 2 gorgeous skeins of Claudia Hand Painted Yarn in the Plumicious colorway and started winding.



Excuse the crappy picture, but umm...doesn't something look off? Yea, one skein is 40 grams, the other is 70. I'm just going to knit toe up until I run out of the smaller skein and then wind off 15 grams of the other. You know me, I like to use up every inch of handpainted goodiness. These are destined to be Monkey Socks with a mod for toe up that I found somewhere in blogland.

Finally finished blanket number two for the granddaughter (god, that stil freaks me out).



Yarn - Encore, 6 skeins
Pattern - Sheila's Laprobe
Hook - Size H
Time to crochet - Too damn long

I finished over 2/3 of this while the Princess was in the hospital for 2 days with an acute stomach virus that had all of us very worried. She is all better now, but I think I aged 5 more years in 3 days.

Also knit while she was in the hospital (Very easy to knit there, you know. She sleeps and doesn't want me to leave her side, so I knit and crocheted for HOURS. I don't recommend it, however, as a way to finish off projects.) are 2 baby bibs in Sugar 'n Cream. These are no brainers. Perfect for 4am knitting and you can't fall asleep in the chair.



This might be my favorite baby project so far.



Alison's Baby Bell Bottoms. Very well written pattern, soft yarn and a quick knit. I have yarn for a purple pair in a 6 month size, too.

Now, back to bed with me. Because I don't have enough going on without somehow coming down with pneumonia and having a lovely reaction to the meds. Yea.

Posted by Heather at 4:27 PM 3 comments

Hanging my head in shame

I couldn't help it! Look at this, would you?



Knitters around blogland have been extolling the virtues of Dream in Color Smooshy. I began to covet the Smooshy. Spending hours and hours looking at all the color combinations, dreaming of how soft the yarn would be in my hands as I knit it, how soft the sock would be on my tired feet. I resisted. I made a vow!!

I caved.

But...but...look at it!! Look at the depth of the color, the richness of that buttery yellow. You can feel the smooshiness through the picture. It was calling to me, dammit! "Heather, please buy me. Please take me home and pet me and spread the smooshy love."

So, I placed an order through a new online shop that I just really have come to adore - Eat, Sleep, Knit. Isn't that the best name for a yarn shop? I so hope she ships my yarn today. Because, you know, I only have enough for 17 pairs of socks.

Stop laughing. You know you covet my smoooshy.

Posted by Heather at 12:09 PM 3 comments

Baby knitting factory

And the baby knitting continues. What is it about baby knits that is so much fun? First up is a hat and baby sock set knit out of self-striping yarn that I can't remember to save my life.



Isn't it adorable? The hat pattern is a recipie from Knitting Rules by the beloved Yarn Harlot. Knit a gauge swatch, do some math, you have a hat. Very simple and I love the way it turned out. The socks are from a free pattern on I'm Knitting as Fast as I Can. Very easy to follow, but really hard to knit such wee things on my needles.

I also finished a pair of socks that have been lingering on the needles for a long, long time.



Yarn? Who knows. Some kind of bamboo and cotton, I think. Very soft, but very splitty and the blue ran when I hand washed the damn things. They were more cream before I washed them. Oh well. The pattern is Wendy's Generic Toe-Up Feather and Fan Sock from Wendy Knits. I love her sock construction and this pattern was very easy. I prefer toe-up socks so I'm not worried about running out of yarn and so that I can use every inch of yarn, especially when it comes to hand painted yarns (this wasn't but still).

And who doesn't want to knit Alison's adorable Baby Bell Bottoms? The yarn is Shine Sport from KnitPicks and I love it. Soooo soft, non-splitty and cheap! Can't get better than that. Like Brian's feet in the picture? All the others were blurry, so you get to see his feet. And yes, for those of you in the frozen North, he's wearing flip flops. Only 65 here right now. ::snicker::



I needed to clean out the yarn stash a bit to find all my Sugar N' Cream to make knitted baby bibs (thanks again, Sarah, for helping me find the pattern). They are addictive and I've already knit 3 of them. I've been tired of digging through huge bins of yarn to find everything, so I used my stash of zipped plastic bags (from sheet sets and such) to sort the yarn - sock yarn, wool yarn, shawl yarn. Holy crap. I swear, it's breeding in there. There are so many new, gorgeous hand painted yarns in the online shops these days and I've been drooling over them all. I made a deal with Brian that for every 2 pairs of socks I knit, I can buy yarn for another pair (really, he doesn't care, but I have enough now for 17 PAIRS.). I knit one sock over a weekend, so if I stick to it I can have some new, pretty yarn soon!

Must.knit.faster.

Posted by Heather at 4:45 PM 2 comments

Mom, does this match?

My son has a very good heart. Now, that sometimes clashes with his immature brain, but he really is a very good kid (most of the time).

He was SO excited to give me my Christmas gift this year. As you may know (hush, Sarah), I love Crocs. I have 4 pairs of Beach and 2 of their flip flops (I am SUCH a flip-flop girl and these are the comfiest ever. Yes, they are $35. No, I don't care. My feet are cute and deserve them.). Anyway. The Star can't wait for me to open his gift to me on Christmas. I open them and I swear, I had to cover my eyes.



Trust me, this picture does not accurately pick up their eye-blinding capabilities. They defy logic. They can be seen from space. But, I'm going to wear them. Because I can't break his heart by taking them back.

I figure with jeans and a neutral shirt they aren't that bad. But I need socks to go with them. Hell, might as well go all for it, hmm? So, anyone out there know of a soft, non-scratchy sock yarn that would match? You know, so I can be seen from Mars?

Posted by Heather at 7:18 PM 7 comments