Liberty!

When I saw this Liberty Wool yarn I immediately wanted to make a new jumper for Antea. It was very quick - especially because I got some Addi Turbos to knit it with :) - and I am very happy with the result. The shape was inspired by a free Lopapeysa pattern. I hope to eventually knit the actual one...

Yellow jumper

Just finished last night. Got a lot of compliments today. (gosh! I have to get a proper camera!)

everything old...

 When Antea was born she was really tiny. I knitted these hats for her and they were too small - well this year they fit! The white one is wool and was inspired by Purlbee's Heirloom Hat. The aviator grey one is DK Alpaca and was a trial and error design.

and matching mittens.

 

Autumn is here. This year it really has been stunning. I have finished knitting mittens for Antea on the day Purlbee had posted these ones. Must be the season!

Socks!!

All done.

From flower to yarn

We bought some flowers that had these plastic nets protecting the crowns. I have been using them to keep the yarn together while I work or in storage.
Now that I figured out a system that works for making socks, I am loving this Koigu yarn to make a pair for Antea. I am using a combination of the KNIT Freedom pattern (for casting on) and Carol Feller's Japanese short-row method (for turning the heel). I feel I am really getting the hang of this and want to make tons of socks. I think I will make them less pointy the next time though...

Jolly jumper

Red! I used the same method that I have been using for cardigans but I made it into a jumper with a buttoned side opening.

Also, I got this great decorative heart-rainbow from my favorite notions shop in Ithaca and attached it to the back. Every time I go to Sew Green I find something truly unique and wonderful.

So ckonfused

I've been feeling really dumb as I try to figure out how to make the toe-up sock heel. I had started with this video reccomended by Wiksten but I just couldn't make it work.  Then I tried this tutorial and that was a disaster - I ended up with double the stitches I should have! Then I realized I could use the short-row yarn-over method that I learned in Craftsy. And then I went back to the initial video. I took tons of notes (yes - I have started a knitting notebook).

I have done all this in tiny socks for Antea. The left sock heel in the picture was done using the no-wrap method and the right sock heel using the Carol Feller method.

Sampler update

 Update on the the sampler I started, follwoing Karen Barbé's class in Chile.

Know your craftsy

I've just discovered Craftsy. I'm starting with a bunch of free classes and I am really learning a lot.

I am now taking the Know Your Wool class. This made me realize the importance of keeping a knitting journal and do proper swatches when buying yarn - not just for the gauge but also to practice stitches. And if the swatches are consistent in size they will not only be a useful tool, they will be beautiful in themselves.
The class also made me realize the importance of buying good quality yarn. Often I have bought yarn just because it was cheap but in the end whatever I do with it ends up looking cheap as well. So it takes me back to what I learned from reading Elizabeth Cline's "Overdressed" - I don't buy or eat cheap food just because it's cheap. Why would I do that with anything else if it will also feed a "cheap industry" of any kind that will harm everything in the long run? Plus, knitting with good quality yarn is so much more fun and pleasurable.

I am also taking the Short Rows class. That was a lot of fun and I know I am going to use that technique a lot. The method I most like is the Japanese method.

The politics of clothes

After seeing a review in Bust Magazine, I have been reading Elizabeth Cline's "Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion". I realized that although I am very careful about what I eat (buying organic and local as much as I can) I buy clothes in all these places that are feeding into the problem of cheap labor, lower quality and disposable clothes. It is definitely going to inform my fashion choices from now on.
Today I found that one of my favorite vintage dresses has the ILGWU label and that made me really happy.

Taller de bordado at home

Teaching myself embroidery techniques...
Since I can't be in Chile for Karen Barbé's workshop, I am trying to make a sampler of my own looking at her pictures.

Thread conditioner with velcro top

After watching Jenny Hart's Embroidery 101 video for Kin Community I wanted to try using Velcro to separate embroidery floss threads and also try using thread conditioner. I must say I was very happy with both. The conditioner really smooths the floss and the Velcro helps untangling the threads. To make sure I didn't loose the Velcro piece I attached it to the top of the thread conditioner box with Krazy Glue. I use Krazy glue a lot...

Mexican oil cloth bibs

When I lived in Austin, one of my favorite places to go was El Interior in Clarskville. I wanted to buy the whole shop. The weekend before I left I made two stops: one at Allens Boots to get the gift I promised myself (real Texas-made cowboy boots); and one at El Interior to stash up on tons of Mexican oil cloth and some little gifts for Antea.
You can download the template for them here.
I made some double-side bibs for when she starts eating solids which should be soon. She will be 6 months tomorrow. It feels I never lived a day when she wasn't here.

Make your own boo-boo pack

Yesterday Antea bumped her head on the crib railing - her first boo-boo! I didn't have an ice pack in the house so I came up with this boo-boo pack using rice as the filling.
I used the Lansinoh milk bags for the inside pouch with the rice because they have two seals (safer than plain ziplock bags).

 

Fill the bags about halfway with rice. Lay them flat, remove the excess air and press the seals closed. 

Place in the freezer.

 

They are ready to use after a few hours. Place them inside a cloth bag and hold it over the boo-boo.

Nice day for paper cutting

 

Finally I got round to Elsita's beautiful papercut patterns. I attached them with a thread to the blinds in Antea's room. They look like shadow puppets and echo the frame we got in Austin, I think.
Everything Elsa Mora creates is magical.

...and, yes, another cardigan....

I've finished yet another cardigan for Antea - the third, I think. This time I tried making sure it was larger but it's just the right size (sigh!). So it should fit her for another week, the way she is growing...
I used this beautiful Blue Sky worsted cotton in Spearmint with number 3 needles.
For buttons I used raw wood beads which look very pretty but I made sure to really sew them well to make sure they don't come off.

One more cardigan

Made a second cotton cardigan for Antea using the same pattern as the yellow one, with some blackberry stitch on the sleeves and on the back.

Knitting companion

My knitting companion I made in November.

Ryan Berkley embroidered animals

One of my first projects for the nursery was this set of embroidered Ryan Berley animals from Sublime Stitching. Next I want to try to embroider these in "needle-painting" as seen on this Ryan Berkley blog entry. It makes these ones look skimpy!