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the blog of a confused knitter	I don't really know what I'm doing, but I like to pretend.

confusedknitter
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Monday, June 26, 2006

	Moving on Well, it's been fun here on Xanga, but I think I'll be moving on now. I'm a bit frustrated that only people with Xanga blogs can reply here. I have worked out my differences with blogspot (meaning I finally got photos to publish how I want them too), so I've made a new little home over there. My new knitting blog I'll keep this here for replies to other Xanga blogs.
	12:01 AM - add eprops - add comments - email it

Saturday, June 10, 2006

My first knitting book!

Today was an exciting day! I purchased my very first knitting book for one, but what is WAAAAY more exciting than that .... I got to meet Wool Winder!!

She is every bit as nice as you would imagine -- probably more so. She brought with her a donation for LucyBug, a beautiful little pink dress with the cutest little ladybug button on the back. I've never seen this particular button before, and that's rare for a ladybug item.

Pictured: My new book and a little doll (sharla) that my nine-year-old daughter made this week.

Here are a couple of FO's! Amazing, huh? I finally blocked the green head wrap thing (pdf). This and the blue one (will be pictured with UFO's) are both slated to be gifts.

And my cable socks, these will also be a gift.

the toe:

the pattern:

And now the UFO's (shamefully this is not all of my UFO's

but just the ones I hope to get finished in the somewhat near future):

Socks for my FIL for Father's day. Unfortunately this is the first in the pair and I'd still like to knit a pair for my own dad.

finally the second head wrap thing (pdf). This one is a bit modified, using fewer stitches. I'm knitting it with a lambswool, cashmere and silk blend. The green one was knitted using alpaca yarn (which incidentally when wet smells like ... well a wet animal).

Anyway, I had a lovely day today meeting Wool Winder. We wandered around Barns & Noble for a bit. She helped us find the Nancy Drew books that my daughter has been reading (devouring?). My daughter was thrilled when we also went for ice cream at Ben and Jerry's (who knew we had those in Utah? Not me!).

8:42 PM - 8 eprops - 6 comments - email it

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Yarn!

I was so excited to win the Iowa drawing in the contest hosted by Wool Winder! I haven't won many things, actually I think only a water bottle once at a family picnic for my dad's work when I was a teenager.

The yarn is thinner than I expected. I decided to cast on a sock ... for myself! I've never knit a pair to keep. I can't wear wool and haven't been able to find other yarn that would work for socks.

Thank you to Gerlinde who donated the yarn, and Wool Winder who hosted the contest. I love it!

*****
And speaking of contests ... be sure to check out the contest for LucyBug from CvenKnits. It runs through the month of June - time to warm up those needles!
*****

12:16 PM - 4 eprops - 4 comments - email it

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

backpack, backpack!

For my oldest daughter's 3rd birthday (she is 9 now) my sister gave her a very cute backpack from Old Navy that is pink on the back and has a scene of wild flowers on the front. It came with a pair of matching flip-flops that my daughter wore for three years and when they broke she cried.

I have loved the backpack for it's simple, yet adorable design.

Last fall my mom gave me a sewing machine and when my second and third daughters needed dance bags for their ballet class, well, I went to work! Basing my design on the flower backpack from Old Navy (which is now acting as second daughter's knitting bag until further notice) I came up with the bags pictured above. They are the perfect size to store ballet slippers and tap shoes along with socks and a dance outfit.

The frog bag I made for my sweet little stand-in son. Since I have no boys of my own I feel a great urge to spoil the sons of my sisters.

One of my fake-sons loves frogs and recently moved away. I was missing him, so I made it as a little gift so he can remember which aunt he loves the most (ha!!). I also made one with butterflies for my niece's 9th birthday, but forgot to take photos of it before it was given away. I have enough fabric to make one to match for my oldest, so maybe I'll get to that soon and can post a photo of it.

Some details:

The trim on Second Daughter's bag:

The lining of the frog bag:

The two dance bags are lined with the same ballet slipper print fabric.

Third Daughter's bag has trim around the opening because the trim she chose had elastic in it, Second Daughter's did not.

10:53 PM - 2 eprops - 1 comment - email it

Friday, June 02, 2006

crochet -or- I never was very good at reading the instructions

A few months ago I decided I wanted my mother to teach me to crochet (she had offered). I brought my hook and some yarn and she showed me a simple stitch and how to make pretty ruffles for the edges on flannel blankets.

Then I didn't practice.

I felt that it would be a good legacy for my oldest daughter if my mother also taught her how to crochet, a memory my daughter could keep with her her whole life. So last Friday we brought some bright blue yarn and a new package of hooks down to Grandma's house and they sat together on the couch for a while. First Mom wound it into a useable ball (while Daughter held the yarn in her hands the way the girls did on the Little House on the Prairie shows). There was a lot of yarn there and they ended with a ball only slightly smaller than planet earth.

Since then Daughter has been crocheting as she finds time. She is working on a pair of gloves, she says. She has already made a blanket for her little sister's doll house.

I thought after watching her that I would try some more. I did try and ended up with this:

It wasn't curved at first. My daughter (who is all of nine-years-old) peeked over my shoulder and asked, "Oh, is that how you do it?"

*laugh*

Turns out I was leaving out a pretty important step. And I had wondered why it was so difficult, painful and looked nothing like any crochet I'd ever seen. So after I learned the right way it turned into this:

Of course it still took a few more rows before I figured out how to keep it from shrinking every time. This is what I ended up with:

It's not really anything but practice and I'm sure it will be soon headed for the frog pond.

So I've been crocheting some simple dish cloths, just for practice and for fun.

I decided to try a dish cloth at an angle, which has worked fine through the increases. One problem. I realized (now that it is as wide as I would like) that I do not know how to decrease. Hmm. I may just have to look at some instructions...

Oh hey wait a second! I keep forgetting that I always only have ONE stitch! LOL no decreases!

12:43 AM - 6 eprops - 5 comments - email it

Next 5 >>

Moving on

My first knitting book!

Yarn!

backpack, backpack!

crochet -or- I never was very good at reading the instructions