Julian's raisin bag...

I came across this Mochi Mochi Dokomun backpack on Ravelry and couldn't resist knitting one for Julian. I thought it would make a perfect book bag for our trips to the library. Though after seeing it start to come together, he had other ideas about what he might like to carry around inside: pencils, scissors (not allowed), trucks, and raisins. Silly billy ;0)


I knit it from Elann Peruvian Highland Wool (2.5 balls of russet brown #3729 and odds and ends of natural and ruby red for the teeth and mouth). This one seemed to literally fly off of the ginormous 8.0mm/US11 needles the pattern calls for. Including the intarsia bit this took less than a day to knit! You just gotta love that!

Then it was time for the hard part: felting! You see, I have one of those energy-efficient front-Loading washing machines and had never had much success felting in it...until now that is because I finally figured out the trick ...


If you have and LG Tromm (or a machine with similar options) here's the secret recipe: put your bag in a king-size pillow case and tie a knot in the end. Put a few drops of dish soap (I use Shaklee's uber concentrated, environmentally/kid friendly dish soap) in the detergent tray. Set it on quick cycle, hot wash/cold rinse, and select the no-spin option. On my machine, this works out to 18 minutes. I checked on my bag and decided to go for a second cycle to get it to felt the way I wanted.


Ta-da! It's perfect! This was such a success that I think my hand-felting days are finally over! Oh, I should mention that I didn't add anything else to the machine for agitation, just the knit bag in the pillow case. I read somewhere that this might actually be more efficient for felting in a front-loader.

Now all I need to do is brave Wal-Mart to get a zipper and a couple of big black buttons for the eyes. I really dislike that store, but their button selection is so much better than our local fabric shop that I just have to suck it in! I also ordered the webbing and buckles from etsy (will share the links once I receive the goods and am happy with them) which will be all that's needed to turn this flat Domokun into a bonafide back pack full of raisins for my quirky little guy;0)

Happy knitting!

S is for Shedir

First, I guess I should start with my newly mandatory disclaimer: I'm not having a baby! Well not yet, anyway ;0) Everytime I call Stephen at work, I can hear the anticipation in his voice and have to reassure him that it's okay, I'm not in labour yet and he can resume breathing! LOL!!! But still, I can't wait...really! I'm soooo ready to have this baby ;0)

In the meantime though, between all the daytime naps to make up for lemon's all night kicking festivals, there's still knitting to pass the time, relax and enjoy. This weekend, between the residual nesting and lots and lots of naps with poor little feverish Julian who's cutting not one but four big teeth, it was a baby shedir.

Actually, I should say my first baby shedir because I enjoyed knitting it so much that I immediately cast on for another. A smaller one. For a newborn. I knit the first one from less than a ball of Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere (DK weight) on a size 3 circ using something from nothing's mods and ended up with a 14 inch circumference which I figure should suit a 3-6 month old but would be too big for a newborn.

The hat is surprisingly stretchy...so much so that it fits around Julian's almost 2 year old noggin! Though if you plan to knit it for an 18-24 month old like my Jujube, you should add another cable repeat before the crown shaping so that it covers the ears well but otherwise you don't need to make any other adjustments to the baby adaptation of the pattern.

Check out the crown shaping. As Grover would say, "is it not beautiful?" And this is pre-blocking too so it'll presumably look even better after a little bath ;0) Love it!

I knit it magic loop style and am totally coverted. I'm already wondering what to do with all those DPNs now that all I need are my trusty circs! That's how much I love magic looping. I had tried it before a long long time ago and it was a disaster so I decied it wasn't for me. I think the instructions I was following at the time must have been needlessly complicated because I was able to master the technique in no time flat following purlwise's magic loop tutorial. So simple really. And the best part? No ladders!

Finally, a pic of Julian and his baby in our brand new twin stroller. Now all we need is a little brother and for the snow to melt a little and we're ready for neighbourhood strolls and trips to the park. After being cooped up this long, a neighbourhood stroll sounds real good! Plus, I can't wait to see who else was pregnant all winter!

We live in a very young neighbourhood and there's always a new crop of babies coming...Stephen ran into our backyard neighbours at the donut shop this week and it turns out they're expecting too and are due in May! Yay! Plus, it's a boy too so there you have it, lolo already has a little friend near by ;0)

I am slowly going crazy...

...1...2...3...4...5...6...switch. Crazy going, slowly am I, ...6...5...4...3...2...1...switch!

I've been working on a pair of green cable twist socks for my lemon with the leftovers from my own glorious pair (they're my favourite ;0) and taking the opportunity to teach myself some new techniques like the figure 8 cast-on and all manner of short row heels.

The figure 8 cast-on for the toe is brillant and stunning and Hello Yarn's tutorial couldn't be clearer -- plus how cute is her anime top down bonnet for baby showcasing the technique? Sure it's fiddly for the first couple of rows (the technique, not the bonnet) but it's so fun! Fun enough to convert me into a toe-up sock gal except for one small detail: (cue the tragic music) the short row heel!

I tried 7 different toe-up heel options for these babies including one I think I invented. And I hate them all! Turns out, I'm totally a cuff-down heel flap kinda gal ;0)

I tried Wendy's twice wrapped method, the yarnover method, the Japanese short row method, knit and purl encroachement, afterthought heel , Dawn Brocco's star variation and my own final variation of EZ's afterthought heel: the double decrease (slip two together as if to knit, k1, pass 2 slipped stitches over) on either side every other row.

Then I came back to Wendy's method for the second sock but this time following Cosmic Pluto's awesome tutorial and must admit it is the most successful of the short row methods I've tried. Though I think the afterthought heel is more polished looking though less convenient since you have to cut and rejoin the yarn to knit it.

Anywho, back to my going crazy - as if redoing a heel 7 times in one weekend isn't enough to convince you - I totally lost the yarn needed to finish the second sock! I had it in a ziploc bag with the sock in progress and the finished sock when I came back from a doctor's appointment this morning (baby's doing well and has apparently dropped! Yay!) and now I have everything but the 6 yards of yarn I need to finish the cuff of the second one despite having been sitting on the same spot in the couch since I got back!

$5 says dadda comes home from work and says "it's right there!"

In the meantime, I guess I'm off the hook and get to start a new project... I'm thinking a raglan sweater for lolo made from Elann's oh so soft baby cashmere. The stuff is cheap and divine...my favourite combo ;0)

Oh, and in case anyone wants to know how I made my baby cable twist socks: use figure 8 (or your preferred toe-up technique) to cast-on 24 stitches (12 for the top, 12 for the bottom) and increase every other row to 48 stitches. Start the cable twist pattern in K4/P2 ribs as follows on the 24 top of the foot stitches: P1, K4, P2, K4, P2, K4, P2, K4, P1. Work the 24 bottom of the foot stitches in st st until after you turn the heel then establish this pattern on these as well so that it runs all the way around the leg part of the sock. For the left twist, see the instructions in Hello Yarn (can you tell I heart her?) Cable Twist Sock pattern but over 4 stitches instead of the 6 described in the adult pattern. Mine works out to 4 pattern repeats before the heel and 4 pattern repeats up the leg. I used the sewn cast-off to keep the cuff nice and stretchy. Sized to fit a 0-3 month old.

Happy knitting!