FO on Parade

Vital Stats: Child's First Sock from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. Yarn: Lang Jawoll. Needles; DPN, US1(I think) SPI: 9.5 to fit Miss E's foot. These are BDay socks for her...almost knee socks! I like this pattern and will probably knit it again but at 8spi!



Jumper for Ems. Am still thinking of things to make for her, so be patient Lynn! (roflmao, I know) This one is just plain, so she can wear it with any shirt she has. Must remember to find tights to toss in the box too.



R's bday socks. Vital Stats: Purl Lace Socks from XRX's Socks, Socks, Socks. Same yarn as above, DPN US2, 8spi. Again, I like the pattern but will probably not knit it again as I am fairly certain this is the second or third pair I've knit.





Miss E's Laura costume from LAST year is finally finished. I do not remember why she changed her mind about it then but she decided she wanted it finished since I have another one in the works for a friend's daughter. (Hi Princess G!) E didn't want a pinafore but I may make her one yet. Notice the mess behind her? Due in part to not enough storage space in this house and in other part to my knitting sprawl. Yup. S-P-R-A-W-L. Like urban only knitting. It's a good thing.



And finally, some Trekking 77 socks. I believe I have found a new favorite sock yarn! Vital Stats: Pattern: Spey Valley from KOTR (Nancy Bush). DPN US 2, 8spi. Made to fit a size 10 foot, so they definitely are not living in my sock drawer. Love the pattern, even the Vikkel Braid, so these are also on the 'will knit again' list.


Lately, there has not been much time to create. That is sad, sad news, believe me folks. School is taking most of my waking hours. Hubster has shingles now on top of everything else so add 1 grumpier than usual man to the mix and Mama needs a break. Today and tomorrow have been allotted to creative pursuits, catching up on emails, blogs and all that jazz, so I am outta here!

Reasons to Knit

Dear Kristi has 3 wonderful reasons to knit on the way. Cool Kelli and Super Sarah came up with a way for the knitting community to help Kristi outfit those bundles of joy in handknits while Kristi is on bedrest. Details are here: Red Dog Dutchicans. Go see what YOU can do to fill the Red Dog Dutchicans' closets with love.

Weekend sewing

Spent a little time yesterday whipping this up for a mystery toddler who loves Winnie the Pooh. I have other things in the works for her, so she must remain nameless at the moment. Sure was fun to finish something in under 30 minutes and know it will be worn, no matter what. I miss the toddler stage so much when it comes to dressing. Miss E wore tons of mamawear as a toddler. She remembered a jumper she had around the time she was 2, made from blue cord and had a blue floral blouse to go with it. She even remembered wearing it to ChuckECheese with Gram!WOW! I hope this jumper brings some similar memories to the mystery girl and her gram.

The 3 States of Matter

are definitely not: yarn, fabric, thread or in line, WIP, FO but rather solid, liquid and gas. Every 1st grader loves this lesson, I swear, but few can pull it off with the polish and jazz of my youngest. Who, while reviewing the previous week's lessons, somehow managed to time her sentence and flatulence perfectly. Whoever says boys are worse than girls has yet to meet our clan because not only was this feat met with gales of laughter, it has been retold numerous times to anyone who will listen. That includes Super Grandpa who thought he was going to hear a straight account of lessons, not the highlights. Top off the musical portion of the program with a retelling of Tarak, the nomad girl who settled in the Fertile Crescent and loved to eat wild horse meat, and well, I am fairly certain my father is now among the grandparents who wish they could have had the grands before the kids! Hope the laugh started your day off right, Dad. I know E sure loved knowing she was the cause of the laughter and that for once, you got to be the first grandparent to hear her exploits.


Now before y'all go and think I've given up my craftiness to be the world's funniest mama, don't dispare. I've been knitting my sore little fingers like a mad woman, whipped up a jumper for a special little girl and managed to trace off a few patterns. However, the weather here has been dreary. Yesterday for the OSU-UC game, (GO BUCKEYES!!!) it was bright and sunny there but cloudy and yuck here, a mere 2 hour drive from the Shoe. Bummer. So the camera has been hiding, hoping for a better photo day.

Someone, I believe it was either Ingrid or Helen, tagged me for a meme...5 weird things about me.

1. I name my tools, autos and other things. Athena is my sewing machine, Earl is the mom-taxi, Betty is my mixer.

2. I do not care for salad but always keep salad dressings around as dips.

3.I keep a bottle of Elmer's Glue-All on my desk to play with. Squeeze a little out, let it dry and then peel it off. My elementary art teacher would yell at me for that.

4.My body cannot tolerate the cold well yet I long to live in a cabin in the mountains with feet upon feet of snow. Go figure.

5.My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. Not for the reason but for the food. I love to fix a feast, especially a rich, fattening one that calls for real butter...lots of real butter.

I tag whomever would like to join in.

Dr J To Surgery, STAT!

J brought me her favorite pj bottoms this evening, proclaiming "They need surgery, STAT." Which brought out this from R: "You know how to sew. Fix them yourself. Ma's busy." I swear, they get this from their father. The very same man who will sit complaining loudly about the hunger pains rather than fix his own PB&J. The bickering about the pjs went on for a few seconds, evidently because they thought I would just drop everything and DO.IT.NOW. So not happening, dudettes. I'll slide up the machine in a minute or two (3 hours AFTER being asked), use blue thread instead of the required white because I am too lazy to re-thread Athena and then I will haphazardly stitch said bottoms back to some form of wearability. Never forgetting that J is an award-winning sewist in her own right, she can pin and sew a simple seam easily, that they are HER pants. Also, never forgetting that it is a mother's job to mend things.

Just don't ask me to fix your tennis shoes....

Because You Know It Is Funny When....

Two pasty white girls from the hills start actin' all gangsta, YO! Don't ask...I guess it was just one of those days. Like my kids have a clue about gangsters and signs and such. Too many viewings of Judging Amy reruns featuring Graciella and too many Law & Order marathons on TNT or whatever channel shows it non-stop. It was much needed comic relief after a loooong day of school with much confusion.


I did find time this evening to do a little shop-stocking. CreativeMamaDuck is now boasting handknit baby socks ($7, free 1st class shipping in the US) along with the sock bags. More items are in the works, I just have not found the time for everything yet. Other items on the list include retro aprons (oh YEAH! Baby!), larger tote bags (hey, Jane, send your friends!), possibly a quilted bag or two and hopefully, in the near future, baby and lap quilts. I will take special orders!

I was so happy tonight to finish a few sock bags and start a retro apron. I love it and will find it hard to put in the shop. I tell myself if it doesn't sell, then I can keep it....like I need another apron. I have an entire buffet drawer full of my grandmother's aprons. Ones she made 40-50+ years ago, wore every day and then still had when she moved to the nursing home last fall. One of my very first housewarming gifts umpteen years ago was an apron I remember her wearing to bake cookies. I love it even though it is red. Seems I have a fascination with aprons that goes back a long way. As a teen, my bedroom was once decked out in vintage aprons of all varieties. I have them all and the girls think I must have been the weirdest kid in school to hang old aprons on my lavender walls. Maybe I was, but I was happy so what does it really matter?

Hope your week is going well...

Sock bag or a little girls' handbag

When I made this bag Saturday evening, E proclaimed it a "FABULOUS BAG, Mama. Just right for me." I had not thought about it being a bag for her. I made it as a trial for sock-KIP. Turns out, maybe my girl might have a head for marketing.
This bag is currently listed in my etsy shop: CreativeMamaDuck, which just opened today! The shop price is $12.50 plus the shipping...Yarn Aboarders can get a CMD bag for $10 with free shipping if they identify themselves as YA2ers. More bags are in the finishing stages right now, so stock will increase.
E wanted to play photographer this morning while I was snapping shop pics, so I let her take this one to show how nicely it hangs on the wrist while allowing the yarn to move. Only, I'm right-handed so this is wrong. She was in a hurry to do 100 things at once. I did not use a closure on this bag but could easily add a snap. I hate when my yarn gets hung-up on stuff in my bag. If you want a snap, just ask.

Runabout

Thank you all for the wonderful comments about the quilt. It jumped into a box bound for Georgia this morning. I hope it brings much comfort to the new owner. Helen had asked me if I did the work freehand. Yes. I did not mark this quilt in any way, just sat down with my quilting fingertips (rubber, nubby things just for the fingertips to help grip the quilt), a free motion foot and a timer. Yes, I said a timer. A very wise and talented quilting friend told me to only work 15 or 20 minutes at a time on it to prevent sore shoulders and frustration. I followed her advice and found that the timer actually helped me accomplish more in a day. 15 minutes of quilting, 15 minutes of something else then 15 more minutes to quilt. My dream is to own a long arm quilting machine whenever I find the perfect house with room for one and then quilt professionally for other quilters after some more practice. I have 2 or 3 quilt tops waiting to be quilted so I'd say practice is coming! In the past, I have hand quilted and enjoyed the experience but this house just does not have room for a frame to be set up at all. Too many hobbies and people, not enough house!

I haven't touched the needles for days. One kiddo is sick, another is whining she doesn't feel well but seems healthy enough for playing (avoiding school, the new game). Hubster's not feeling well and I'm whupped. I want to be elsewhere right now, relaxing and recharging my spirit. It will happen at the right time I suppose, I just wish it could be now. My writing is disjointed and jumbled. My sewing is chaotic yet productive, I haven't lost myself in a good book for weeks, my knitting is suffering. Life does that to us sometimes. I don't like it, not one bit!

A quilted FO!

After picking Athena up on Friday, I just had to see how happy she is to be working again. This baby quilt has been languishing around for months waiting for binding. My least favorite job, right next to seaming sweaters. About 15 minutes of work and this was finished! And now it's up for saleSOLD if anyone is interested. $65 (US) plus shipping. Machine pieced and quilted, done in yellow, white and purple for a baby girl. Backing is white as you can see in the photos. I can put a label on the back, if desired.