Victorian knitting

Today, I volunteered at the Heritage Farmstead, an old Victorian Farm north of Dallas. It was sheep shearing day at the farm so there were shearers, wool carders, spinners and me -- demonstrating how to knit socks "the old fashioned way" -- or as I like to call it, "knitting socks."My trusty sidekick was with me, charming visitors and waiting for her friends to arrive so they could go on a tractor ride.

On the back porch, demonstrating knitting.

In the old school house

Playing in the back garden while I knit on the porch

Waiting

Watching sheep shearing

Snack time

Perfect reaction

This is why nearly all my knitting time goes to projects for this kid -- have you ever seen such a smile? Awesome. After all that work, that's exactly what a knitter wants to see.

The pattern is my take on the Blue Sky Alpacas Eyelet Baby Blanket. As you can see, there are no eyelets (except in the ruffle) and it is quite a bit bigger than a baby blanket -- it's toddler-bed size in fact. BabyKnotty has outgrown all her lovely hand-knitted baby blankets. She proved it to me one day by pulling her blankets up to her chin and urgently stating "See? See?" as she wiggled her calves, ankles and little feet, all of which were quite clearly sticking out in a most un-baby like fashion.

So we bought out all the Manos del Uruguay Maxima from my LYS, and my sister picked up two more skeins for me from a LYS in Austin.

I followed the stitch count for the Blue Sky pattern but used circular US size 11 needles -- this was after a lot of experimenting to see what would make the proper width for a toddler bed. I skipped the eyelets because I remember the discomfort of attempting to keep myself warm with an eyelet blanket while watching Saturday morning cartoons during the early 80s -- back when there were Saturday morning cartoons and I was young enough to want to get up and watch them. The eyelets always left little open circles of chilly, no matter how I twisted the blanket around. I figured if I was going to make a blanket this size, I wanted it to be functional for many chilly mornings for years to come. So no eyelets. And then I just kept knitting the length of the blanket until it reached 51 inches -- toddler bed length. The ruffles were a snap -- so easy and they knit up really quickly. That colorway is Meltaway Mints -- I ended up with one skein plus a little extra. I think it will be a hat and mittens set for her in the fall.

Next up -- a lot of dresses, skirts and tops using Oliver + S patterns, some Lisette dresses and a bag for me and this little dress using Spud and Chloe in firefly and ice cream (yellow and white).

Friday Night Knitting Club

So here's the little miss, modeling a scarf made from one skein of Baby Alpaca Grande at The Woolie Ewe. We popped in this morning to scope the joint for newbie-knitter-class supplies. The owner pointed us to this - and it's on sale. Whoop! Only $10 for that soft, soft lovely. -- Let me interject here to tell you Little Knotty's spontaneous, non-prompted proclamation as we walked into the store: "Be very patient," she said pointing to herself. I was quite amused.

As we walked around the store, she showed off her mom-knitted poncho to the nice ladies at the back table, and she picked out several toddler-sized sweaters on display and asked me "Yeah, Mommy can do?" So I guess I need to make some more sweaters for her...

Here's more of the Baby Alpaca. There were lots of good, chunky starter yarns on sale. I think I can get everyone a little scarf kit together for about $20.

I walked out with a test-skein of alpaca. Little Knotty walked out with a cupcake from the staff of the Ewe. Now I have to find a suitable meeting place. Somewhere where yarn, snacks and wine meet...

pon-CHO

So the other day I wore my poncho -- the one I made with yarn I bought at the Quarter Stitch in the New Orleans French Quarter, waaaaaaay back when. Little Knotty was enthralled and told me she wanted a pon-CHO too. So we walked into the Yarn Stash Room -- which my husband still insists on calling "our office." She chose this Chunky Mochi. It was one of my last-yarn-buying-at-Loops purchases and was originally supposed to be a hat. But since the hat hasn't happened yet, and would, like all things, be cuter on Little Knotty than me, I agreed.

Mr. Knotty and I watched Munich that night and I was glad to have somewhere other than the very-violent-movie to focus my attention. This knit up very quickly and with just two skeins on Chunky Mochi, plus a little scrap yarn (Drops, I think, left over from the purse I knit my mom).

Little Knotty is a very appreciative knitted-gift receiver. She has been proudly showing off her pon-CHO to everyone.

Cross-stitching, or How I Lost a Month of Naptimes

People are always telling me to sleep while the baby's sleeping. That is such good (and totally impractical) advice. And if I had taken it in the past month, I never would have finished my first cross-stitch project: a family portrait. Yay!

I got the inspiriation* from a Martha Stewart tutorial, then changed it up to fit my family. Getting the goatee right without turning my husband into a giant bobble-head was the toughest part. I used graph paper snitched from my husband's science-stuff stash and my daughter's crayons to plan it all out, then used some large-blocked cross-stitch fabric to make it easier. I could do about one item per naptime - a Bears sweater, my curly hair, a much-loved purple blanket. The Great Dane took two naptimes.

Contrary to my memories of learning how to cross-stich as a child -- and then refusing to cross-stitch as a child -- this was actually pretty fun. I might make another one, if I can pick an appropriate subject.

*According to the comments section, Martha got her inspiration from an Etsy seller, but gave no credit. I have no idea.

Once Upon a Time There was a Blanket

I found the pattern for the blanket baby Emma was wrapped in during Once Upon A Time! Isn't it pretty? As soon as I saw that she was wrapped in a hand-knitted item, I thought, "I wonder how long it will take before that pops up on Ravelry?"* Answer: no time at all. I can see the studio changed it up a bit - stitched it shut and sewed a patch of fabric to put Emma's name on.

*OK, so my first thought was "Oh my dear, that man holding his baby while battling the forces of evil is so hawt! Oh, heavens! I need a cold drink. To pour on my head." But my next thought was about knitting.

Mommy Mittens

In theory, it should get cold because it's winter. I don't live in Alaska anymore, so everything being relative, who knows how cold it will get. Most of my memories of Texas winters involve wet, sloshy, windy uncomfortableness - not fun, dry, puffy snow. But I'm going to be optimistic. So I made mittens for my little one.

I followed a pattern in A Knitter's Home Companion, and honestly, I wasn't very happy with it. Following the instructions for the smallest size, I ended up with a giant, disproportional thumb. So I frogged, guessed, rinsed and repeated a few times until I was happy.

More importantly, my little knit-receiver was happy. Once I figured out my own formula, these knit up very quickly -- I could probably do a pair while watching my stories in one night.

And what better way to celebrate a finished pair of mittens, then with toasty warm beignets in the morning? These came from a Cafe Du Monde mix, but I'd like to make my own. I found a few recipes on the Food Network, but taking any advice from Paula Dean makes me uneasy. Uncomfortable. Possibly diabetic. Hummmmm...