A Sweater for Me

While I have promised myself that I will not begin work on this project until 2011... (please see previous goals).. that hasn't stopped me from commencing the planning and purchasing for this project. Every girl needs a sweater of her own.

The sweater I will be knitting is none other than Hey Teach, a Helene Rush pattern featured in Knitty in 2008.

If you are a member of Ravelry,  please please go view and drool over the many Hey Teach sweaters already worked up (1,872 to be exact).  There are oh so many, in so many different colors.. with short sleeves, and long sleeves, and no sleeves too!

I plan to make mine with 3/4 sleeves using the chart and sleeve instructions provided on the Stash N' Stitch blog.

I also picked up my special order Cascade Sierra Yarn in Moss from the local yarn hangout here in town.  Bless Julie and her buy one get one half price sale!  So now I wait for the new year... and it is possible that I will be picking up my needles at 12:01 to start this one!

Of Christmas Stockings and Bite Marks

I have decided on a pattern for Helen's stocking and have begun the process of crocheting the motifs.  The pattern is Starflower Hexagon a free Ravelry download.  With four colors in each motif, that means 8 ends to sew-in  per hexagon.  Oh! How I hate sewing in ends!!  But, I do love this pattern and think that it is going to make a beautiful stocking.

We are at home this morning, I think Helen has a sinus infection and to top it all off she was bit at daycare yesterday - on the cheek!  So, we have an appointment with our pediatrician to hopefully sort things out.  

Megan's Morning Mitts

I know that I seem to be posting a lot.  This is very obvious as our home falls into a new state of disrepair.   Surprisingly, even though I have two weeks worth of laundry built up, a very dirty kitchen floor, a bathtub that needs scrubbing, and a sourdough starter screaming to be made into bread... I am just not too worried about it.  I'll just take it one task at a time (and try to keep an eye on Helen in the mean time- I already had to fish three board game pieces out of her mouth this morning).  I am not the perfect homemaker.  I just don't have time to be... sufficient is going to have to suffice for now.

In happier news, I have completed the Morning Mitts I started for Megan last February.  I love these mittens - especially since you can wear them and type at the same time - a blogging knitter must have designed them!


These mitts are great for beginning knitter who has the knit/purl down because they teach M1L/M1R, picking up stitches, provisional cast on, and how to use a stitch holder all in one compact little package - and with a second mitten built right in to reinforce what you just learned!


Now back to that pile of laundry for me...

A Pocket Full of Goals

With the encouragement of my sister-in-law as well as a budding group of knitting mommy friends (that's you Knit While They Nap girls!) I have begun rethinking my crafting goals.  One thing I have always known about myself is that I love to start projects, but I rarely finish them - does anyone relate?

So, this dear sister-in-law was a good example and shared her crafting goals for the year with me, and quite frankly, I was blown away! She is going to finish all of that by the end of the year! wow! And what am I going to finish?  Well, at that point... not much.

Not to be out-done, I pulled out unfinished project after unfinished project and did a personal review of the state of my mess.  I didn't bother counting, so don't ask how many there were... let's just say it wasn't pretty.  And while looking at all those projects, I thought to myself - which of these are really important to me, and which of these should just disappear? - Here is some of what I found:

Things I plan to finish this year (2010)

• Helen's Monster Pants - at this point these where barely started (see previous post: On My Needles).  Now these are finished and I am feeling great about it.
• Megan's Morning Mitts - from the "Maine Morning Mitts" pattern, these charming fingerless gloves I began as a birthday present for my sister (her birthday was last March.. oops) but, hurrah! I cast them off my needles last night and they are ready to be posted about and shipped to the great white north where they can be used and loved - happy belated birthday Meggers :)
• Mother's Turtleback Sweater - still plugging away on this one, but it is so slow going that I am tempted to give it up.
• Helen's Christmas Stocking - She is ready to celebrate her second Christmas, and poor girl still doesn't have a stocking.  I am currently finalizing the pattern details and colors on this one... she will have a stocking this December - I am determined.

Things I plan to finish next year (2011)

• A Sweater for Me - believe it or not, I have never made myself a sweater... that is about to change.  I have chosen the pattern, ordered the yarn, and am patiently waiting until 2011 to start this daunting and exciting task.  More on this "Dream Sweater" to come in a later post!
• Applique Table Runner and Window Valences - During the summer I drew up plans for the perfect table runner and Valences for my sweet little kitchen.  And, I already bought the fabric.  Have I started? No.  I am still hesitant about the whole applique part, but one of things that I love about crafting is the wide range of new things to learn! So, I bought a book on applique techniques, and I am determined to make this project happen next year.
• Sun Dress for Helen - this is another project that I already have all the materials for, and the deadline is really spring for it so that she can wear and enjoy it before she grows out of it!  A side goal for this one is that the process of making this dress will help me learn how to better follow sewing patterns... something I have never been very good at.

Projects I will not be finishing and may use the yarn/supplies for other things

• Helen's baby shrug - she is already too big to wear it.
• Helen's knit jumper - see above.
• 500 million knit washcloths - I just don't like using them so why knit any more. (I have several of these done, just need ends sew in - any takers?)
• Nathan's Sweater - sorry little nephew... it just never happened. Maybe I will try again sometime with a different pattern.
• My shawl/wrap thing - I just don't have much use for it, and it is boring.
• Baby Jacket and Pants - the baby this was for is now almost 3... a little late, and they turned out ugly.
• and Many Others not far enough along to even mention.

It is good to have goals, and nice to have people to tell about all the crafty goings-on of life. I am already seeing the fruits of my "finish-it" mindset.  Thank you.

Helen's Monster Pants

So, they are finished... ta da... Helen's Monster Pants.  These pants were started in a Knit-A-Long for mothers who "Knit while they Nap".  I am quite happy with how they turned out, and they look so cute on Helen.  I will have to snap a picture of her in them as soon as possible!

All of the yarn used was stash yarn.  Here is a list of the yarn "genealogy":

Rust Yarn - from my mother's stash, taken from her while I was in college... she originally used this yarn as hair for a giant doll she made me for Christmas one year... when I was 6 or 7?

Tan Yarn - purchased in 2003 (?) for an afghan I made for Mom and Dad Fernandez.

Multi Yarn - purchased when I was in middle school (1996?) for a granny square blanket project.

Pink Yarn - purchased in college as part of a "cheap deal"  eight skeins of ugly Red Heart in dusty rose.  I sold the majority of this yarn at our garage sale this summer, but this bit had to be cut off from the rest of the skein because Marble decided to get all tied up in it.

White and Black Yarns - from my Grammy's sister-in-law's stash (shipped with several other odds and ends in 2006)

What a sweet face!

On my needles

Das Monster - Every toddler needs a pair of monster pants.

Turtle Back Sweater - At the request of my mother... though, I have somehow lost the pattern and am now trying to read my own stitches to re-create it.

Baby Shrug - For a friend's sweet little girl, just need to sew in ends.

Pink Pullover - no ravelry link, for my little girl - not pink.

While reviewing my current projects, I noticed something- I am seeing a lot of brown.  The one thing all of these have in common is that they are all using stash yarn... I guess that says something about the state of my stash.  Suddenly I have the desire to add another project to my queue... in turquoise perhaps.