KnittingZen

New cast ons... fun!

I'm a lucky woman. I had to go back to being a chiropractor 8 weeks after my sweet Ruby was born. For the first year of my daughters life, she was lucky enough to be with her daddy during the hours I was at the office. Then, we realized that two afternoons working from home was a little to stressful for daddy's schedule, so we started searching for someone to take care of Ruby on Mondays. We ended up with an awesome child care provider who is worth every penny we pay her. I wanted to knit her something sweet for the holidays... but if course I didn't get around to it. Thankfully, she's as forgiving as she is amazing with my kid. So... I looked for a pattern that was perfect for her.. cute, quirky, fun... and here it is! The Daisy Stitch Hand Warmers! I'm using Debbie Bliss Rialto.... soft yarn to knit with but a bit spiltty (like most DB yarns, I'm afraid). The pattern is fun, easy and the look is adorable. I hope to finish them by the time we see her on monday!

FO in review... or something like that

Oh it's been a slow year in the world of string and sticks, my friends. I started 2007 with a goal to knit through my stash, and I did.. a little. I only bought new yarn when it was for a project, but I also started many projects and didn't use up all of my stash. I did however us a lot of it and that feels good!

FO for 2007 include
1. A pilot hat for Ru

2. a flirty skirty for Ru
3. a dress for Katie and one for Ru

4. a sweater for Grey that he outgrew in 5 minutes

5. another flirty skirty for Ruby

6. a pumkin hat for Ru

7. Briar Rose (again, guess who that was for!

8. a Bolero for Ru

9. a farily easy fair isle for ME! (it still needs buttons and to be washed)

10. some new wrist warmers for me (no pix yet)
11. and many many cotton string bags for holiday gifts. and a dozen or so squares for the yet to be finished afghans. More squares are being knit, and I think they will come together nicely.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot.. I knit an udder... who doesn't love a hand knit udder?

I'm sure I am missing a few things, but that's the major things I did this past year. Not my best year as far as FO goes, but I have a sweet girl who doesn't sleep all that much, or regularly, so knitting time is sparse and split with cooking and cleaning time. (and sleeping time)

OTN now...
1. My so called scarf for me
2. A clapotis for kelcie that was supposed to be for her birthday in November. Hopefully it will be done by her NEXT birthday.
3. I still need to make a couple of string bags for holiday gifts, but we won't be seeing that side of the family till mid Jan, so I'll wait on them.
4. More and more afghan squares. I was trying to do one a night, but some nights I just don't get to it, so I'm shooting for a couple a week. I guess I need to lay out what I have and see how many more I need!

SO my needles aren't completely full, but I have several projects that need to get started. New longies for RU, as she's about to out grow the few pairs she has, and some slippers for her ....
and me.
funny how fast they wear out! My next pair will have to have leather bottoms. ;)
After these few necessities, we'll move on to a sweater for ryan, and maybe another for me. Ruby is rolling in sweaters, since Aunt mary keeps her well stocked in cute, but i do have a couple of plans for spring sweaters for her. I'm hoping for more time to craft and knit in 2008, but only time (and napping) will tell.

Holiday crafting and shopping...

I've been busy. Sick kid, sick mama, traveling, sick kid, and now the holidays are upon me. Oh how the holidays are upon me! My family has had a rule for 12 years that we make all of our holiday gifts, so I have crafty fever and not enough time in the day (especially since SOMEONE refuses to nap, or go to bed before midnight!) to get it all done. I've got a stack of things to make, and a few little things I want to buy... but do I? I've spent a lot of time this year thinking about how and where I spend my money. I have tried not to buy anything I don't need, and think long and hard about how and where the things I do buy are made or processed.
And now, the season of shopping is upon us. I love christmas and solstice and this season of giving and loving. But I'm not a huge fan of the consumerism that is attached to it. I love that my family has a rule of making gifts, although we still need to think about where the base supplies come from. We told everyone in our family that if they were buying Ruby a gift, we preferred no plastic and not made in china (and a few other requests) and that please, please, please, not to buy her more than 3 gifts. Heck, Baby Jesus only got three things, and it's his birthday right? (well it is for those who celebrate a christian holiday!) We are trying not to raise Ruby as a mass consumer, so we choose to buy locally made, organic, and used whenever possible. Still it's so hard, when I see toys, or clothes or what have you that would make her smile and giggle or just look adorable. It's hard not to BUY BUY BUY. I have to force myself to stop and think, really think about where it came from, it's impact on the world and the people who made it, where it's going to end up.

What about you?

RIP Elwood

Ah. Elwood. My sweet sweet monkey. I knit him years before I had a ruby for him to play with. he went on many adventures... such as snuggling turtle

and fetching fruit for simon the duck

Well... Elwood had a new adventure, my friends... and it didn't end well. Somehow our cats got fleas (even tho the are indoor cats!) and we decided to set off a flea bomb (yes, ick and gross, but they eat my hubby alive!) before we left for a t-day trip... and somehow Elwood didn't get put in the bag with all the other toys. So, i decided to toss him in the washer. OMG. never put a knitted toy in the washer. NEVER.

Where is the line of white chalk around his broken little body?

The lumps kind of look like muscles, but still, he's soooo misshapen!

Sad sad Elwood, can't even sit up straight.

Any thoughts on salvaging him?

So you see, we've moved again...

Wordpress was good to me, but since I moved my peanut's blog to typepad, I might as well consolidate the whole thing, no? I'll be cleaning things up and moving things around in the next few weeks, as this becomes mainly a place for craftiness and knitting. Compacting and other zen happenings can be found here.

Stick around, hopefully I'll get my blogging bug back and keep you entertained!

And so it begins…

Well it's the first of November, and it's time for NaKnitSweMo to begin. I'm doing something relatively easy project the Fairly Easy Fair Isle from SnB Nation. Now before you call me a cheater or a slacker... remember that I have a kid that sometimes doesn't nap, and a part time chiropractic practice, and, and, and. (yeah I'm sure 90% of the people participating have stuff going on, but hey this is MY blog. ;) ) I chose this sweater because...1) I've never done fair isle, so that will be a challenge. ((yeah yeah yeah, it's easy, whatevs!)) and 2) I need a comfy bulky sweater! besides, I had all the yarn in my stash, so not only am I knitting a sweater in a month (or less, since we're traveling to MI for T-day and I'd rather not knit a big bulky sweater while traveling... I prefer to wear it!) I'm using all (i think, I may need an accent yarn) stash yarn (some of which was purchased at the craft thrift store)! go me!! Anyway, it may not be 50K stitches, but it will still be a challenge for me to finish it. I have several other things on the needles (knitting ADD has struck again) and xmas pressies to make, AND am participating in a craft swap mid month... so yeah, it's a challenge.
My friend Adina is doing this also.. and is also participating in NaNoWriMo. She's attempting to write a novel in the month of November. Maybe someday I'll think about trying that.. but quite frankly I'm no where near capable of that right now. However... in a stand of solidarity I am going to try to write more this month also. I don't know if I'll blog everyday, but I'm hoping to actually post more of the things that go through my crazy head during the week. We'll see. My true pledge is to try and finish my blurb book from my pregnancy, and (if I'm really productive) Ruby's first year. I figure if I spend 30 mins a day, I can finish one of them this month, right? I mean, I was only pregnant for 10 months. Ha. ha. ha.
Well... So the sweater has been cast on, and the latest version of blurb has been downloaded. I'm going to go knit for half an hour and then if I'm not asleep, maybe spend some time on the book. I hope November is productive and fun for you too!

Community…

If there is one thing I've found from the blogging community... is community. I found a world of people surviving infertility before I knew I needed them. I had complete 'strangers' sending love and gifts to a child they hadn't met, and now, I'm asking for a little knitted love.

I grew up in souther california, and now... it's on fire. Sadly, the fire has more than touched those I love. My Aunt and Uncle, and one of my cousins have lost EVERYTHING. Houses burned to the ground. My Grandma is living with my cousin, and all of her belongings and those of her nurse were also lost. Thankfully, my other cousins house was untouched, and they have a rental house that was saved (and thankfully empty) so they will have a place to stay. But what else do they have? nothing. After being grateful for their safety, thoughts turn to comforting their losses and replenishing their stores. Today I shipped of boxes of toiletries, because although they have a place to buy all of those things, and money to do it... they are a little busy and paralyzed by the grief of losing everything.

My Aunt Beth is a crocheter... and has always crocheted afghans for new babies. So.. I'd like to return the favor. It would take me a million years to knit an afghan for an adult and I'd like to end up with two maybe three of them (for my aunt, my cousin and my g'ma), so I'm asking for some help. If you have any inclination ...
Any color, any pattern, knit or crochet, 8x8 square in machine washable yarn. that's it. that's all... an evenings knitting. An afternoon watching amovie, and you can contribute to warming the heart of someone close to mine. Comment and I'll get you the address to mail it to.

PS. I love you.

refashion, fashion?

Today during nap I decided to do a little wardrobe refashion. The jeans didn't fit, and they never fit well, always a little poochy at the hips. So... I tried turing them into a skirt. I left the seams unfinshed, so they will wear a little (the hobo look I have been calling it). As soon as I was done, the little and I decided to go for a walk....
Hey, I may not match but my feet are dry!

Fall knits

We went to the pumpkin patch today with friends, so Ruby was in need of a pumpkin hat!
(this is Jake wearing Ruby's hat... he wore it more than she did!)

Pattern from Crazy Aunt Purl
Knit with Debbie Bliss Cashmerino with the stem made out of Elsbeth Lavold Silky Wool. Started on Monday finished on Thursday. Oh how I love a quick knit!

Finished!

Briar Rose in action!
Originally uploaded by Ruby2Shoes

This morning I sewed the final seam on this sweet sweater for Ruby... and it was on her 10 minuets later. I knit it in a 2T and...um... it fits her NOW. (and it fits her well!) So the sweater I thought would fit her all winter will probably only last the fall. I'm sure we'll have a friend who's got a girl smaller than Ruby we can pass it down to, but she'll be wearing it often till it's too small.
next up... wardrobe refashion with some itty bitty galoshes!