Yarn Along

I finished my May socks before 11:59 p.m. on May 31, so I should be tickled pink.  But my ears are painfully full of pool water and I learned an important lesson today: don’t take a tired toddler swimming too close to bedtime, especially when the water is way too warm to be even remotely refreshing.  It was hardly a rewarding experience, and the ringing in my ears makes me want to never swim again.  And I’m a bonafide water rat.

It’s been a long, and less-than-easy day, and instead of finishing these socks by my self-imposed sock-of-the-month club deadline, I probably should have gone to bed early.  But I’m a determined knitter.

I’m also a determined before-and-after photographer, which is why I had to take my yarn along photo with my cell phone camera—I left my real camera in Nathan’s room after taking the “before” photo when I started re-installing his bedroom carpet.  It’s going to take me a while, especially if we keep deciding to go swimming after dinner.  If I’d stayed inside to work on the carpet, our house would be a little bit closer to "normal" and I wouldn’t have this terrible ringing in my swimmer’s ears.  Yes, both of them.

Without further ado, here are the aforementioned May socks.  They’re pretty darn awesome if I say so myself, even if it's close to 11:59 p.m. and I should be sleeping by now.  They’re tall, they’re stripey and they’re snug-fitting—all I wanted in my May socks!

I’ll post the free pattern on all. about. knitting. soon.  Until then,

Good knitting,

Kelly

Sweet, Sweet Basil

Do you see the difference?  In the basil, I mean.  If you look closely at the same view in yesterday’s post, you’ll see that this basil is fake.  I needle felted the leaves from wool roving and knitted icord with wool yarn for the stems.

I grow sweet basil in my garden during the summer months and dry it for year-round use, but I have to buy supermarket basil other times of year if I want it fresh.  A few weeks ago I bought basil and was inspired by the cute plastic sleeve it comes in.  I like the way it looks, and I like the way basil lights up my kitchen, especially in its colorful plastic wrapper.  Who knows, maybe I’ll save another sleeve to store my fresh, homegrown basil in…just for fun.

In a few weeks I might have enough basil to bring in from outside, but until then I’ll enjoy having wool basil on my kitchen windowsill.

Out with Spring and in with Summer

I know summer doesn’t officially start until June 21, but at my house, summer starts Memorial Day weekend (hence the blog's new color scheme).  My husband’s busy season at work picks up as soon as the grass turns green (or earlier, depending on his projects), but it gets really crazy starting Memorial Day weekend.  Like, seven-days-a-week-crazy.  His days are long, his job is hard and free time and trips away from the farm are nonexistent.

That’s when I’m pretty much on my own.  In summer, all of the household jobs become mine, I plan and cook just about every meal myself instead of the two of us taking turns and I do all of the grocery shopping.  (I made shopping for groceries a boy job earlier this year, since I work, too.)  It’s always been tough, and it’s even harder with Nathan in the picture.  Taking care of Nathan is mostly my domain, but my husband helps out as much as he can, especially during his off-season.  But now it’s all up to me.

I remember our first summer here, the summer before we were married.  I was planning our early September wedding, gardening like it was my full-time job, working full-time, taking care of meals and every aspect of the house—being a good little housewife before I was even a wife—and I nearly broke down at the end of the summer from the stress of it all.  (I’m sure that breakdown had something to do with the wedding, which was just a week away.)  All I know is that after the season is over, I breathe a deep sigh of relief and feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.

I imagine lots of moms take on all these same jobs and maybe some of you are saying boo-frickin-hoo, but it is hard doing everything myself and going everywhere alone (with Nathan, of course).  Family gatherings and dinners don’t include my husband during the summer months; it’s a given he won’t be able to attend.  (And often the rest of the year, too, thanks to bad luck, bad timing or both.)  We don’t get to go anywhere as a family and don’t get to spend much time together, period.  I can’t leave Nathan with him while I go shopping for an hour our two by myself, let alone to run down the street to get milk.

There are no hot days spent at the community pool or picnic lunches on weekends.  Forget about summer vacations or trips to the shore.  He gets no days off.  And like I said, I work, too, so now I’m doing it all.  In short, summer is like a four-letter word around here.

So I spent one day this weekend visiting my parents and brother and the rest of the time gardening, cleaning, getting my house back in order after the great washing machine flood of 2011 and playing outside with Nathan.  And of course knitting and crafting and cleaning while he sleeps. 

My summer squash have little buds on them already.

I finally planted my tomatoes, several weeks late thanks to lots of rain.

I started taking down my spring decorations and putting out the summer ones.

The window stars on my kitchen window are from the Harvest Moon by Hand Etsy shop, and I love them!  When the sun shines in around 5-6 p.m., my favorite time of the afternoon, they seem to glow.  They look amazing.

My vases are waiting for the hundreds of cut flowers I expect to get from my cutting garden.

I also spent some time thinking about how I can make this summer different, less stressful and more fun than previous summers.

This year I’m going to try to stay as relaxed as possible and try to just go with the flow.  It’s something I’ve been working on since Nathan was born—I was more Type A than I’d realized—and I think I’m getting better at letting go and letting what will happen happen.  To a point. 

And I’ll also revel in the good things about summer and remember why I’ve always loved it so much.  We get to spend more time outdoors, walking, relaxing and eating (I love eating meals outside!).  I love gardening, harvesting my own fresh veggies and bringing in my own cut flowers.  And swimming!!!  This family looooooves to swim, and we steal what little moments we can to jump in the pool, even if we only have 20 minutes together to spare.

So even though summer is difficult and we have to make efforts to spend time together as a family, it has its rewards… It’s a strange dichotomy.  And now I’m in the thick of it!

{this moment}

{this moment} is a Friday ritual.  A single photo—no words—capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special or extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by SouleMama.

I love our family of three.

Can you believe we were wearing sweatshirts just a few days ago?

It's Only Temporary

This afternoon while Nathan napped I set up a temporary pottery glazing station by the window in the dining room, since my craft room has become crowded with boxes and boxes of baby clothing we evacuated from Nathan's closet during the great washing machine flood of 2011.

I glazed my toadhouse in relative peace with the sole company of a glass of iced coffee.  Glazing pottery is so relaxing, and I enjoy it so much more in daylight than I do by incandescent light at night.  I also glazed two lady bug pendants that I'll string on some black hemp cord.  I'll take before- and after-the-kiln photos so you can see how amazing the firing process is.

These are the buttons I got back from the kiln this week.  I don't know what I'll knit someday to go with them, but I'll think of something that only requires five large-ish buttons.  I also got back two small plates from the kiln, but I don't really love them so they're nothing to write home about.

My little glazing station is only temporary -- I'll have to pack it up before I go to bed at night, lest the cats knock things over and destroy my totally cool, garden-worthy toadhouse.  (T.J. found me a toad last week -- I hope he sticks around long enough to move into the condo!  Even moreso, I hope he is a she who will have babies!)  (Sidenote: The cats are on my last nerve -- they're lucky they still live inside the house.)

The stations' temporariness (it's a real word, I checked) made me think about how the chaos of this week is also temporary.  Of course it was made worse by cats who can't seem to find the litterbox when there's a little chaos in the house.  (Did I mention that I've about had it with these cats?)

Soon we'll have a new washing machine, the house will be back in order and hopefully Nathan's carpet will be dry and non-smelly.  And you know what?  Even if the capet has to be ripped out and replaced, it's just carpet -- it won't be the worst thing that could ever happen to us.  Eventually the boxes will leave my craft room-slash-office and return to Nathan's closet.  Maybe we'll come out of this as good as new.  Either way, just like my dining room glazing station, this situation is only temporary.  Thank God.

I'm Back on the Radar

After months and months of putting everyone else first (as of today, 18 of them, to be exact!) I realized how much I'm neglecting myself.  As you can see, I do take the time to knit, craft and read, but I don't take the time to care for myself the way I should.  I recently looked at some pictures of myself from the weekend and realized that I look, well, like a schlub.

I laughed at how the Urban Dictionary defined it:

Schlub (n): One who is unkempt in appearance, either due to lack of effort or lack of awareness. The opposite of metrosexual.  (I laughed out loud about the metrosexual part.)

But I don't like how my go-to dictionary Merriam-Webster defined it:

Schlub (n) slang: a stupid, worthless or unattractive person.  (I'm not that bad, am I?)

I guess oversized sweatshirts, plain old t-shirts, jeans,  beat-up (but comfortable!) clogs, hair pulled back and sometimes a bandana on my head aren't doing it for me anymore.  That's why I bought some casual dresses earlier this week at Target.  They're inexpensive and let me tell you, the designers are finally onto something: the dresses hide my gut pretty darn well.  (That's another thing I should do something about if I'm going to make an effort to take better care of myself.)  Any time I tried on dresses in the past -- I have distinct memories of trying to find a dress for my college graduation, even though it was almost 10 years ago -- I couldn't find a dress that didn't accentuate the roll around my middle.  Well, at Target, I found five!

So among all the chaos caused by the broken washing machine, the still-wet carpet and all the dirty laundry piling up, I'm putting it out there that I'm back on the radar.  Even if it means that I'm getting "dressed up" to get dirty outside with my toddler, clean the house or write all by myself in my office for five hours at a clip.  I feel better about myself already.

Yarn Along & Weekly Wrap-up

After the sun came out for one measly day over the weekend, we’re back to constant clouds, misty rain and cold temps and I have some serious rainy-spring blues.  I’m dying for sunshine and warmth; for my garden, for my son, for a little vitamin D and for my own sanity.  I snuck out with Nathan the other day for some retail therapy at Target, and I was happy to find some new shirts and dresses (yes, I’m trying out dresses!) for summer.  If only it’d get sunny and warm enough to wear them.

My short-lived glee was smashed the very next morning when our washing machine overflowed so badly that gallons and gallons of water leaked from the laundry room into the family room, pantry/utility closet and Nathan’s bedroom.  It was a lot of water, and at first it looked like we were going to lose Nathan’s wall-to-wall carpet, which we had installed only a few months before he was born.  We then spent hours sopping up the water—my husband even used a broom to schoost it straight out the laundry room door to the outside.  I pulled back the rug and cut out the soaked padding.  It was emotionally painful work—the rug was beautiful and expensive, to me, anyway.  But with some careful positioning for better air circulation and targeted fans, I think we’ll be able to save the rug!  (YAY!)

You can see how thrilled Little Miss Lovely (aka Sunny) is that I've surrounded her with my knitting and reading.  She's not nearly as gracious and my handsome Stuart. The pack-n-play in the background served as Nathan's temporary Napping Headquarters while his room was completely torn apart.  It still is, actually, but we managed to clear a path to his crib so he can sleep more comfortably all night long.  Between the washing machine this week and the water heater last week, my house is in complete disarray and I can hardly stand it.  (Yet I'm blogging right now -- twisted priorities, right?)  I promise I'll buckle down after this post.

Now that my ups and downs of the week are out of my system, let’s move on to the knitting.  I just finished working the heel of my second May sock.  They’re going faster than I expected, and I’m glad because I want to get them done before the end of May (still not sure if that’ll happen) and I want to cast on my next project.  I received a box of yarn in the mail on Saturday, and I’m dying to cast on something new!

I’m still reading Oprah’s biography. Progress is slow because I don’t read as often or as much as I should.  And all this knitting is getting in the way.  During my Target trip I bought Nathan I Like Bugs by Lorena Siminovich and Potty, our second book by Leslie Patricelli.  It's apt, because I bought him a potty (for practice) in the same trip.  He's enjoying them both (and the new potty).

One more: Tonight was my last pottery class of the session and I'm bummed it's over.  I'll meet up with my teacher's assistant next week to pick up the rest of my things from the kiln.  I have until then to finish glazing my toad house for the hand-off; my teacher graciously let me borrow some glazes for the week so I can finish up my last project.  (Nathan had to come with me tonight, so I didn't stay long and didn't accomplish everything I'd wanted to.)   I'll check back in soon to share how these pieces have turned out.  It's so fun to see how things come out of the kiln!

Toddler Eaflap Hat for Japan

I've been knitting for Japan lately and created a new hat pattern just for someone affected by the recent earthquake and tsunami.  For a toddler, to be exact, and hopefully several of them. 

Okay, so it's not a brand new pattern -- it's a variation on my original Toddler Earflap Hat, but this time it's knitted in the round -- and with beautifully dyed Japanese wool  yarn.  I thought it was fitting that this Noro Kureyon go back to its homeland to keep someone in need warm.

[For more on the effort to knit for Japan and to find out what to knit, where to send it and by when, visit the Knit for Japan post on Small Things.]

Here is the pattern -- I hope you'll make this hat and send it to Japan for someone who needs it.

Toddler Earflap Hat in the Round

[download printable PDF]

Size: 9-18 months (2-3 years) to fit head circumference up to 19 ½ (21) inches

Materials:

Two skeins Noro Kureyon

18-inch-long U.S. size 7 circular needle or size to get gauge

Set of U.S. size 7 double pointed needles (DPNs) or size to get gauge

Stitch markers

Gauge: 4 ½ stitches per inch

Instructions:

Brim

Cast on 80 (88) stitches on circular needle. Join in the round being careful not to twist.  Place marker at the beginning of the round.

Work in k2p2 rib for two inches.

The knit one row and purl one row to create a garter stitch ridge.

Body of Hat

Work in stockinette stitch for 4 (5) inches

Crown

Knit decrease row (RS): * k6, k2tog, PM, repeat from * to last 8 sts, k6 k2tog—70 (77)

Work three rows st st, slipping markers as you come to them.

Row 1 (decrease row, RS): * knit to 2 sts before marker, k2tog, repeat from * to last st—60 (66)

Row 2: knit

Repeat rows 1 and 2 two times—42 (44) sts

Switch to DPNs.

Repeat row 1 three times more—10 (11)

Stem

Slide remaining 10 (11) sts onto one DPN and work 7 rounds of I-cord. Cut yarn and secure.

Weave in ends.

 

Earflaps

Left earflap: With brim folded up and RS facing, count 24 sts to the left of beginning of round. 

* With RS facing, pick up 11 sts with a DPN. 

Turn and knit 11 rows garter stitch. 

Start earflap decreases as follows:

Row 1 (RS): ssk, k to last 2 sts, k2tog

Row 2 (WS): knit

Repeat these two rows until 3 sts remain.

Knit 14 inches in I-cord.  Cut yarn with a 6-inch tail and draw through remaining stitches tightly. Secure and feed tail through the I-cord stem and cut yarn.

Right ear flap: With brim folded up and RS facing, count 13 sts to the right of beginning of round.

Follow directions as for left ear flap starting at *

Now slap it on your favorite toddler’s head and tie the ties.  Blocking the hat will make the brim fold more crisply, but I’m not worried about it.

  

 

 

All that Rain was Good for Something

All the rain we had last week—and there was a lot of it, about 3 ½ inches according to my rain gauge—was good for something. 

For one, everything’s gotten a lot greener.

  

My vegetable plants are growing quickly, even though it’s been too rainy to get them in the ground.

It has certainly made me appreciate the sun more, which we thankfully had a lot of on Friday and Saturday.  The blue skies and puffy white clouds were almost too much to take!

This weekend we…

…tested out Nathan’s new mom-powered tricycle, which I think is an ingenious invention. I was surprised to find out that I can easily steer the thing with the handle that makes it mom-powered.  Going into it, I really did think we’d be battling over which direction we’re going in or careening into the fence after every few steps.  But it has an internal mechanism (the one that puts it in mom-mode) that disengages the handlebars’ steering ability and gives that power to me, the controller of the all-mighty handle.  It was a lot of fun and waaaay better (and more big-boy-ish) than the jogging stroller.

…enjoyed a visit from my husband's family, had fun chasing (and yelling) bubbles and rediscovered the cuteness of overalls all in one moment.

...had fun outside with Nathan's aunties.

…and gave Nathan his first-ever New York bagel, and, true to his Brooklyn roots (through my husband), he loved it.  A boy after his mom’s heart.

I even got to be in a photo.  I exist!  (With my March socks on and everything.)

On Sunday we relaxed and recuperated from my in-laws' weekend visit, kept mostly indoors by misty rain and cooler temps (and no sun whatsoever—total bummer).  I’m hoping to get some gardening done on Monday, before my work week begins.  Those tomatoes and squash aren’t going to plant themselves!

{this moment}

{this moment} is a Friday ritual.  A single photo—no words—capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special or extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by SouleMama.

 

On Doing It All

Earlier this week I received a kind comment on my Honey Mustard Salad Dressing Recipe post wondering how I manage so many things at once.  You know, raising a toddler, knitting for Japan, managing my Etsy shop, crafting, learning pottery, gardening, cooking, reading and posting on two blogs.  And that doesn't include my part-time freelancing work and managing a household!

My short answer was I don't like to sit still and I do most of my crafting and all of my blogging when Nathan's in bed -- and I stay up way later than I should.  But I can do better than that.  It's simple, really:  I don't do it all.  There are plenty of things I want to be doing (or doing better) but don't have the time or energy for, and I do get some help. 

There are days when my kitchen floor doesn't get swept or I forget to switch the clothes from the washer to the dryer.  Just last week I didn't pay my car insurance bill on time (I thought I'd already paid it) and received a notice in the mail in a pink envelope (pink!) that I'd better pay or else.  And I don't even know when I scrubbed the kitchen floor last.

And although I manage the household and perform most of its associated duties, I do get help from my husband.  If I'm the brains behind the operation, he's the brawn.  He takes out the garbage, does his own laundry, fixes things that break and takes turns with me cooking dinner.  That last one is the best.

And then there are things we do together, like spend time with our son and bathing, dressing and feeding the baby who is so boylike it's becoming harder and harder to call him a baby.

It's true that I do a lot of crafting and extracurrucular activities, but they're possible because I wedge them in when I can, and sometimes that means being opportunistic or even rushing to get them done.  My garden doesn't look as good as it could look -- trust me, it'll look much worse as the season goes on -- and I don't get much time to bake. 

But that's okay because I want to put my family first.  I prioritize my family's needs and then my wants (choosing knitting over baking, or showering, say) and when it comes right down to it, I'm not really doing it all.  I'm just doing it.

On that note, I think I should go mop the kitchen floor now.  : )

Nathan's "helping" us put his trike together.

Yarn Along & Pottery Update

As always, I’m knitting along with Ginny on Small Things on Wednesdays.  I feel like I’ve been trying hard not to talk about knitting too much here (it’s why I started www.allaboutknitting.net), and as a result I have a lot of knitting to share this week.

My hat for Japan is done; it’s a variation on my Toddler Earflap Hat but it’s knit in the round.  I’ll share the pattern here next week. (Did I say the same thing last week?  I’m so sorry for the delay!)  The blue baby cardigan is for a local family in need; I’ll have it made up in time to hand it off to my friend to give to her church’s mission.  The pink garter stitch is another baby cardigan for another family—knitting for charity is addicting, and the super simple pattern they want me to use is perfect for when I can’t focus on something more difficult pattern.

And I’m halfway done with my May socks—you can read more about ‘em here.  Aren’t they so awesomely tall?  And like a madwoman, I ordered more yarn today for a Baby Surprise Jacket for Nathan for the knit along on In the Heart of My Home, and more sock yarn, of course. Gotta stay stocked up for my self-imposed sock of the month club!  Now I’m good until September, I think.

I finished reading the Friday Night Knitting Club (it was good!) and am back on Oprah’s biography.  Both are worthy reads!

And now for the latest thing to bring me delight (other than my beautiful son) – POTTERY!  I got a few pieces back from the kiln at tonight’s class and they came out so good. 

The vase is a little lean-y but the way the glaze fired on the plate makes up for it.  I love my new craft and already regret that there’s only one glass left in the series.  I hope my yarn arrives soon, because I’m making ceramic buttons for Nathan’s Baby Surprise Jacket and I want to bring the yarn in with me next week to pick matching glazes.

Until next week, good knitting,

Kelly

Robins, Robins Everywhere – How to Install Glass Eyes

I looked out my kitchen window a few weeks ago and saw more than fifteen robins searching for worms in my front lawn.  Fifteen!  How I wish I’d had my camera handy.  But later that day Nathan and I went out for a walk and I captured this photo of a robin near our driveway.

Then I was inspired to make this needle felted robin with glass eyes:

What better way to celebrate the coming of spring each year than with an almost life-sized needle felted robin?

The glass eyes add a touch of realism thanks to the way they reflect light.  I get them from glasseyes.com (Etsy shop: JNCSHOP).  

Here’s how I install glass eyes on my needle felted creations:

Gather your materials:

Do you see an orange and black theme here?  Unintentional, but enjoyed none the less.

Needle felted object

Needle felting tool

Glass eyes

X-Acto knife

Wire cutting tool

Pins with balls on the ends in contrasting colors (for marking)

Superglue (accidentally omitted from photo) – Note: Don’t use superglue for colored eyes (meaning colors other than black). I’ve read that superglue reacts with the eyes' colors and brightens them significantly.

  

Get started:

1. Carefully decide where you want to install the eyes and, with your needle felting tool, needle eye sockets so the eyes aren’t resting on top of the object’s head.

2. Test out your socket placement with the pins.  This will give you an idea on whether or not your placement is symmetrical.

Other than the fact that these orange pins make my robin look very evil, the eye placement looks good. I wish I’d taken a look at my robin from this angle earlier when I was adding white around her eyes.  I’ll have to go back and fix that later.

3. Cut a slit in the eye sockets with the knife so you can slide the eyes into place.  (They don’t go in as easily as the pins with their tapered, sharp points.)

4. Cut the eyes’ wire to separate them; shorten the wire so it’s a reasonable length for your piece.

5. Test the eyes in their sockets, being sure to match the angles of the eye wires.  Like what you see?  Now it’s time to glue them in.

6. Working with one eye at a time, put a dab of superglue on the end of each eye wire and push it through the socket.  For a little extra insurance, you can add some glue directly to the glass eye – recommended for black eyes only.  (The glue may react with non-black eyes and change the color.)  I like LocTite’s Super Glue Control Gel because it’s easy to squeeze out the right amount and it stays where I put it.

The eyes after gluing:

Now it’s time for a beak, yes?

Wait until you see what I have planned for these friendly eyes:

They’re sewn in instead of glued in, so I’ll explain how I install those when the time comes.  The piece needs to be kept secret (it’s a gift!), so I’ll post the tutorial after it’s been done and gifted, sometime next month.