Energized

Thanks to Lolly for the idea... I helped 85 kids make huge 3-D snowflakes this month and they're hanging from the light fixtures all over the second grade area. We have been getting tons of compliments on these pretty snowflakes!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of your positive comments about Mutant Jemima. I told many of you that I almost didn't post those pictures at all because I still feel "lumpy" (and you were right, this is more about my self-image right now than about the sweater), but I'm glad I did. See, finishing a sweater for myself inspired me to knit more more more (stop the clock, please!!), and seeing the pictures of myself inspired me to start thinking about exercise again. I got lots of exercise when Peanut was 0-3 months old. It was summertime and I live in a pleasantly hilly and pedestrian-friendly area; we hit the sidewalks often with our stroller. And then I started back to work. [crickets chirping] And then winter set in. [double crickets chirping]

Today is a chilly day but the sun is out, so when little Miss wakes up from her nap I think we'll bundle up and go out for a walk. I see that Big Girl Knits is on reserve for me at the library so we might walk up there and get it. I skimmed the section on adding short rows last weekend when I visited Hilltop Yarn and I really want to try this technique out next. Yay for the public library!

On the same day, I went to Weaving Works and bought a couple of skeins of purply Koigu. Many sock patterns call for three skeins of Koigu, so I'm thinking a toe-up sock is best. I've been playing around with the Knitty magic cast-on for toe-up socks technique (genius! you must try this out) but don't know how many stitches I should cast-on to begin with. Any tips? I have never knit toe-up socks before... Also, I'm thinking of using the toe-up Jaywalker pattern since I still haven't made a pair of Jaywalkers, but would love to hear any of your other suggestions for toe-up patterns that would showcase Koigu well.


Peanut says, "Have a great week, everyone! Eat your sweet potatoes, they're good for you!"

Mutant Jemima

Jemima, My Fashionable Life
RYC CashSoft DK, Ballad Blue and Lime
Addi Turbos, US6 and US8
Photos and art direction by various second grade students

It all started with the yarn. I bought the CashSoft on eBay with an entirely different project in mind, but later decided it wasn't for me after all. Soon after, I saw Jemima, a cozy, whimsical top that called for the exact same yarn. Bingo.

Except that I wanted it to be more fitted, longer and have waist shaping. So I used the pattern for my VK Shawl Collar Pullover for the length and shaping of the lower half of the sweater.

Then I decided that I would never find buttons that I liked or that matched the yarn well. Mom was a seamstress when I was young and I learned that buttons can make or break a garment. I talked to her about it and decided that it would be best to ixnay the button placket altogether.

So, you see, this really isn't a Jemima anymore.



This was my first time with the tubular cast-on and I loved it. I learned how to do a tubular bind off from Jody; her tutorial is fantastic.

As soon as I put it on, I loved the feel of the fabric; this yarn at this gauge produces a lovely drapey fabric. So warm and soft! Right now it feels very comfortable, like a luxurious sweatshirt for a cool, casual day. The arm hole fits me really well. I think that's what I'm trying to say... whenever I buy ready-to-wear anything (tops, bathing suits, wedding dress), I have to shorten the straps; they're always too long on me. I ended up with a short armhole for my short torso, yay!



In the end, it's not my favorite sweater, but they can't all be favorites. I think I'll like it even more next fall when I'm done nursing and am all the way back in shape.

Wiki Tiki Tavi

Did you know that there's a knit wiki? I had no idea until I noticed a couple of referring links from this page. I'm being quoted about Artfibers Kyoto, the yarn I made my fabulous corkscrew scarf with. I still get tons of google hits because of that scarf.

The word wiki still seems so silly to me. Did you know that it originates from wiki-wiki, or "quick-quick" in Hawaiian?

I'm tired of winter already. We just had another snow day today... at least tomorrow we go back to school, two hours late. Only 63 days 'til spring.

Snow Day!

Another snowy day in Seattle. I don't remember having this many "snow days" off from school when I was a kid growing up in Seattle... this is our third of the year. It really couldn't have come at a better time, though. I really needed the rest. I got to sleep in just a little today and I'm still in my pajamas. Feeling much, much better.

Discovered a few weeks ago, thanks to Almost Felted Lauren, I believe, that Knitty Gritty is now being re-run on HGTV. I don't have DIY so I'm enjoying these episodes. It's fun to see familiar bloggers and designers, like Marnie, Jenna, Kristi, Shannon, and Candi. I haven't seen very many projects on the show that I must knit. Hello, fun fur steering wheel cover and matching dice? However, I'm a mostly self-taught knitter -- a friend helped me with casting on and the knit stitch a few years ago and I hit the ground running with my Stitch 'N Bitch in hand -- so watching these shows is fun. In many of the episodes I see how someone does a technique quite fluidly (like picking up and knitting stitches, something that for a long time I did really awkwardly), or shows a different cast-on than I'm used to using. So it's a fun, quicko, 22 minute thing to unwind with after work while I cuddle with the peanut and the Mr. gets dinner started.

Speaking of picking up stitches, I'm seaming up Jemima today and looking forward to wearing this pulli in the wintry weather.

Did you see Sarah's finished Lucky cardi? It looks so cute on her. I didn't finish mine. I started it without really thinking about how the dimensions would work for me... and put it down about halfway through when I realized that I should have made it longer and done a few other minor adjustments. So it's nice to see one that's Mission Accomplished in the true sense of the word, not in the GWBush sense. heh.

Just watched An Inconvenient Truth last night. Holy shizzle. I knew things were getting serious but the film was quite eye opening. Please see it soon if you haven't already. Melissa at Neoknits has been talking about global warming lately and SuperGirl's Blog featured links from Slate last month about steps we can all take to help out our poor planet.

Must get back to seaming, adios!

Resolutions

In the year 2007 I resolve to: Start a cult. Get your resolution here.

But seriously, one of my resolutions is to blog more often than I have been and another is to get my knitting mojo back in gear. Become a little more efficient around the house (if that's even possible these days) so I can click and clack a little bit more.

Our second graders were writing NY resolutions this week. One boy said that he would like to "wipe his mouth every day." That would make sense if it were written by the boy who *always* spits when he talks and has to be reminded to swallow every now and then, but it wasn't. Random? Nah, just an 8 year old boy.