Sunday, March 29, 2009

Brayden's socks

This is the first pair of socks knit for Brayden. 100% cotton for his sweaty feet!
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Where's that baby?

Brayden is growing in leaps and bounds. Mr. Cool Dude weighs in at 22 pounds. He is just shy of 6 months.
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Tuesday, March 17, 2009

I have a heel!

I am knitting a sock. My sock now has a heel.


I want to knit socks. I am using Silver's Sock Class 2 circular needles toe up sock tutorials. I substituted "the easiest short row heel ever" for the wrapped stitch short row heel in Silver's tutorial. I ripped out the heel so many times I was afraid the sock's heel was going to be worn out before I wore the socks.


My sock looks like a sock, feels like a sock, and fits like a sock. I like it a lot better now than I did 2 hours ago.




(I didn't say it was a pretty heel.)

Friday, March 13, 2009

Brayden's bunny

Brayden loves his knitted bunny. He is beginning to teeth. He chews on that bunny for all he's worth. I knitted it from white 100% cotton yarn because I couldn't stand the thought of him chewing on acrylic yarn.
I have finished Vanessa's Toesties slippers. I haven't touched her scarf. I finished the second hat for Brayden. I have ripped it out and rewound the yarn into a ball. It was horrible. It was hopeless.

Shingles!

I have the shingles. ON MY FACE!!! 2 or 3 people (aged 20 to 50) in 1000 who have had chickenpox develop shingles. Of those 2 or 3, only 7 to 10% have them on their face! Because I teach Kindergarten, my doctor put me on Medical leave until March 23. I can give chickenpox to others.
Since I had Brayden last night, Jen decided he could continue to stay here this weekend. He is either going to break out in Chickenpox or he's not. He has already been exposed to me. The doc said that the virus was only skin contact, not airborne.
I'll have an extra week of unexpected time off. I'll get lots of crafty time in.

Edited to add: after a week of quarantine, I returned to the doctor's. IT'S NOT SHINGLES. It's rosecea. Which is what I thought when I went to the doc's in the first place. I have rosecea, have had it for years. BUT in her words, this is the best case of rosecea mimicing trigeminal shingles she's ever seen. (but, no refund for meds or office visits)

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

The Triplets

The Tessellating Stars quilts are finished. Bindings machine sewn, washed, dried, and delivered! Finally, finally finished.
I have written in Sharpe, on the machine on the quilter frame, SINGER NEEDLES ONLY. I refuse to spend another six weeks trying to figure out why the machine won't sew.

Knitting is progressing quite well. I've knitted Brayden a hat and bunny. Breana has a bunny in Homespun. I have knitted myself a pair of Flat Toesties slippers. The hat is Bernat Baby Jacquards yarn. The slippers and Brayden's bunny are Peaches and Cream 100% cotton.














This hat was knitted flat. It has some major flaws. (It seems that I can't count to 2.) But it will do to take him out in the yard here. It has a little grow room, so I'm knitting the new larger.

I have 3 projects on needles at this time, Vanessa wants a pair of Toesties. I will try to knit these in the round. I also have a scarf for her going as well.
The project I'm really into is a hat knit in the round for Brayden. I'm using the same yarn as the first hat. But I've increased the number of stitches cast on, and I'm knitting this one on a circular needle. It's going well in the K2 P2 ribbing stage. We'll see when it is time to start the Broken Rib part and its decreases.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Tesselating Stars Triplets

The 3 Tesselating Stars quilts are now quilted. Bindings are in progress. I am sick and tired of these quilts! I am tired of that dern machine I've been trying to quilt with! There's nothing like being 2 months late with gifts!

Singer needles only!!!!

I have a DSM with a table frame my husband fabricated for me in his spare time. The machine I have on it is worn out and useless for garment sewing. (It lost reverse.) I have a new Singer I use for garment and quilt sewing.

BACK to the machine I now use for machine quilting. It stitches well. I broke a needle in February. I replaced the needle in FEBRUARY, of course. As I have many times. . . . The machine would not sew. I checked every thing possible. Another new needle. . . . rethreaded . . . . new needle again. . . . new thread. . . . new bobbin. . . . on and on and on AND onnnnnn.

Before throwing the dern thing down the stairs, I bought new needles, again. This time I bought Singer needles. The DERN machine sews perfectly. PERFECTLY!!!! This machine demands Singer needles, and SINGER needles only. IT IS NOT A SINGER SEWING MACHINE! IT IS A KENMORE.