Little mittens

My little Jules has been a little more cranky than usual in the past few days. At 3 months he sleeps through the night from about 9:30 pm to 6 or 7 in the morning. After a quick feed he usually falls right back asleep until about 10am. This is just great. Problem is, he doesn't nap during the day. I keep telling him that all the other little babies are taking afternoon naps but he just doesn't believe me. He's just so tired in the afternoon but he works himself into a tizzy and then just can't calm himself down. I don't know what to do. Hopefully this is just a phase and will soon pass.

Meanwhile, I just don't get to put in much knitting time during the day. So I was really happy to come accross this pattern. In just a few hours I was able to complete his very first pair of mittens. They are red thumbless mitts with a moss stitch heart detail (which doesn't photograph very well unfortunately). I just love the way they turned out. He seems to like them too and doesn't mind having them on. Straight to his mouth they went for a little taste.

Some progress on my Soctoberfest socks. I've got one cuff and leg done and the gauge is finally right. I'm now working on the heel flap which seems to be taking FOREVER. It's my least favourite part of sock knitting. Can't wait to get to the gusset. Hopefully tomorrow...

Cheers!

Anny needs...

Here's a peak at my Socktober socks right before I start froggin' ...again. Given that the yarn is the same weight as my previous socks and the ball band gauge info was identical. I thought it completely unnecessary to swacth. WRONG! They're still way too big. It's a shame to frog these though because as you could tell from the picture, the self-patterning somehow created a wonderful chevron in the varigated row. That probably won't happen again but hey, at least they'll fit (hopefully).

Now for some fun...I saw this meme on Rainberry Blue yesterday and had to try it. You simply google your name followed by "needs" and see what comes up. Here's what "anny needs" generated. No filtering, these are the actual top 5:

1. The Anny's needs tend to align most strongly with commercial needs (especially when it comes to yarn).
2. Anny needs no introduction (enough said!).
3. Anny needs no booze (that depends on whether I'll have to re-re-frog the Soctoberfest socks).
4. United States Needs to Scale Down Oversized Anny (now I know I could probably use a jog but this seems wholly unnecessary).
5. Anny need absolutely to be disciplinate (I don't know about that one).

I guess that says it all. LOL.

Cheers!

Finally!

I worked on it in the morning. I worked on it in the afternoon. When my husband came home I handed him the baby and worked on it some more. I even stayed up 'til the wee hours many a night working on it. And when I finally finished it after a few weeks of exclusive knitting...I didn't even like it!!!

The cable-knit hoodie in the Winter 04/05 Phildar Layette looked very cute. I knit it using the recommended Phildar Superbaby yarn in the olive colourway. This was my first significant cable project. The cables actually turned out pretty well. The colour is also very flattering on my little dude. But something about it is off and I'm not sure what it is. Maybe when Julian grows into it I'll like it more, but for now it's going to the bottom of the drawer.

I can't wait to start working on something else and as luck would have it, I just received my order from Ram Wools today and have plenty to choose from: another baby sweater from Sirdar, a silk and chenille fan and scallop scarf, some Fleece Artist mohair mittens, and the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Astrakhan cardigan from the Fall'05 Vogue Knitting magazine. I'll probably start with the mittens. After that green sweater, I need some instant gratification and mittens should do the trick.

...and I'd love to join everyone in celebrating Socktoberfest. I have a few balls of Confetti self-patterning yarn in a pink and brown colourway hanging out in my stash that are calling to me. This will be my second pair of socks ever and I think I'll use the Lion Brand pattern again. Sure the stockinette gets kind of boring after a while, but I'm not sure if anything else would work with self-patterning yarn. It is lots of fun to see what wonderful socks everyone else is knitting, many of which I'd like to try myself as soon as I have a better mastery of sock-knitting basics.

Cheers!

I'm interchangeable!

When I came across the quiz for "What kind of knitting needle are you?" I must admit I hesitated. Last time I took a knitting quizz...I was acrylic yarn! Not that there's anything wrong with that ;-) I knit all baby garments with acrylic. Julian doesn't react to it and it's machine wash and dry which for baby garments is a necessity! But I really wanted to be wool or silk or even alpaca...

So when I took the "What kind of knitting needle are you?" quiz I was expecting the worst, but apparantly...


You are interchangeable.
Fun, free, and into everything, you've got every
eventuality covered and every opportunity just
has to be taken. Every fiber is wonderful, and
every day is a new beginning. You are good at
so many things, it's amazing, but you can
easily lose your place and forget to show up.
They have row counters for people like you!


What kind of knitting needles are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Yeah, that sounds about right. I like that. And of course it's totally accurate because I love my Denise Interchangeables and knit with them most of the time. As for row counters...well let's say that it is helpful but not fool proof. Even with my Kacha Kacha I still have to guess every once in a while. Did I hit the Kacha last time? Heehee!

Julian's thanksgiving sweater now has a back, front panel and hood...I'm still holding out hope that I'll be able to finish the other front panel and sleeves in time but between housework, laundry and entertaining my grumpy little guy, I must say it's not looking good. You know what it's like.

I went a little nuts with the net rings yesterday and joined a whole bunch. Greetings to all those like-minded knitters out there.

Cheers!