NaBloPoMo Day 25: stripe-tacular

I wish I could show you a better modeled shot of the hat I finished it but I washed it last night and it is still not dry. It’s gotten cool here which means that it’s damp and, apparently, nothing dries. Even though it’s wet, I can show you the jogless color changes.

I tried a new method for them this time. I usually knit around one row in the new color and then knit into the stitch below for the first stitch of the second round. That method requires that you have two rows of each color, though, and this hat has some single row stripes. I did a search, though, and found this method on TECHknitting. Instead of knitting into the stitch below you slip the first stitch on the row after you change color, even if that next row is another color. The slipped stitch then moves from being the first stitch of the round to the last, so you remove your marker, slip the stitch, and then replace the marker. It’s not totally invisible but it’s pretty good.

Speaking of stripes, I have a new stripey project.

It’s the Not So Baby Yoda Sweater. I love baby sweaters because they are so fast! I started this last night and that picture shows a sleeve and a third, or so. I am hoping to finish the second sleeve tonight so I can start on the fronts. No fancy techniques for this sweater, just adorable baby-sized stripey goodness.

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NaBloPoMo Day 24: finished hat

I finished a hat.

Sorry for the terrible picture. I will get a better one tomorrow. I want to photograph the jogless stripes because the new way I found to do it even works with 1-row stripes! Very cool.

Now, my older son is having a friend sleepover for the first time so I need to go to bed early in case when they wake up at the crack of dawn.

NaBloPoMo Day 21: good news, bad news

Good news: The kids were off today so I got to sleep in a bit.

Bad news: The husband wasn’t so I didn’t get to go for my morning walk.

Good news: I managed to sort through the between sizes clothes and move out some outgrown things from the kids’ drawers.

Bad news: We left the house later than planned and it took two hours to drive what usually takes an hour.

Good news: I started, and made progress on, a hat!

Bad news: I just discovered that my gauge is off again so I need to rip back and start over again.

Good news: It’s bedtime so I can just go to bed and think about that tomorrow! (After all the cooking, baking and eating, of course.)

NaBloPoMo Day 19: 3 of my favorite things

I had to take one of our sleeping bags to the laundromat today. There’s one at the end of my block but the last time I used it I ended up with the washer that didn’t work and it took 90 minutes for the sleeping bag to be finished. Instead, I like to go to the one near my favorite coffee shop: Philz.

I brought my knitting, of course. I realized while I was sitting there that I hadn’t checked my gauge and my hat might be a touch small. Okay, it might be to small for any adult head. I’m too close to being done to rip it out and start over, though. I will have to find a kid to give it to, I suppose. That’s fine but now I still only have one chemo cap ready for donation! Sigh. I have some heavier weight yarn I wanted to make a cap from, so I think that one is next up.

Someone asked me on Google+ if starting a hat meant I had finished to sweater. Of course not! I am fickle, like most knitters. The sweater is taking a break (not unlike the sweater I was working on before I started that sweater). Actually, let’s not talk about just how many sweaters there are on break right now. Deal?

NaBloPoMo Day 17: rainy saturday

The whole family got up this morning and went out Scouting for Food. That is, we helped collect food for the Boy Scouts annual food drive. It was drizzly and overcast and the kids were droopy by the end but I think we did well. I managed to trip over nothing and fall down a step on someone’s front stoop. My knees and my dignity are banged up but I was relieved that I didn’t rip my jeans.

We came back home and I boiled maple syrup.

Which became maple ice cream with salty buttered walnuts (From Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams).

I didn’t managed to get a photo of the finished ice cream. You’ll just have to believe me that it was worth boiling a cup and a half of maple syrup down to three-quarters of a cup. I will definitely be making that recipe again. (Although, perhaps with slightly less salt on the walnuts.)

We had a delicious dinner with some friends and came home to the tragedy of there not being time for reading before bedtime. Life is rough when you are six.

I convinced both kids to sleep and knit on my hat a bit. I am done with the ribbing and on to the stockinette portion.

I had to look up again how to do jogless stripes. I am sure I’ve done them many times and yet I still had to look it up. I will blame it on being tired.

NaBloPoMo Day 16: another day like the rest

It might be time for me to admit that my whole life is one of those days that gets away from me. Not much happened but I feel like I didn’t get much done. Of course, my kids did get out of school early today since it’s the end of the first trimester. That is three fewer hours that I get alone.

After school there was a holiday boutique. One of the teachers organized a table to sell stuff to raise money for the Donors Choose Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund and I have been helping her with the organization a little. Niels and I made some origami for her to sell. He made a few Origami Yodas and apparently those went first. Those kids sure do love the origami yoda. Yoda in any form really. Who can blame them? Yoda does kick ass.

I did get some knitting done! I cast on for my next chemo cap. I’m using a pattern called “Bella’s Eclipse Hat”. It’s based on a hat that I assume Kristen Stewart wore in Twlight: Eclipse. I am not a Twlight fan but this is a cute hat!

It will be dark red and brown striped and hopefully beautifully soft and welcome for a client of Breast Cancer Connections.