Christmas 2015

 

Happenings

School started a couple of months ago here, so I am now officially the mom of two elementary students! (And goodbye daycare payments, woohoo!) What I'm wondering is when did I become old enough to have a third grader; I remember being a third grader.

Both boys are playing sports this year. J started a second season of soccer a few weeks ago, and after taking a couple year hiatus C had his first basketball practice this week.

On the knitting front, I'm working on a second Christmas stocking. I've pretty much conceded that E's and mine won't be done before this Christmas but I want to make sure both boys have theirs.

 

My scarf is slow going. Unfortunately I missed the deadline for the lace along I was participating in. It's pretty much become just my plane knitting since the stocking is too bulky to take.

 

Speaking of plane knitting, I got to cross another state off my list as I had to go to Oregon last week. I've now hit 40% of the US. By the way Portland is beautiful!

I'm also applying grad school! I'm mildly terrified - I'll be 35 when I start and 37 (hopefully) when I finish. I finished my Bachelors 2 days before my 22nd birthday so we're talking 15 years between the two degrees. My kids think it's funny that mom will have homework like them. I'll also be working full time. Goodbye free time ...

 

A Finished Object

I finished the Christmas stocking I was working on. We took a week long vacation to San Diego, which gave me plenty of time to knit - we planned our vacation to have a lot of down time this year, not so go go go, which I think was great for everyone. By the time we pulled back in our driveway I only had to Kitchener the toe (I'm prone to car sickness so I couldn't look at my hands long enough while riding to finish it).

I absolutely love the way it turned out! But I wanted to try lining it so that nothing would catch on the floats if I stuffed it. While I am not an experienced sewer, lining this ended up being super easy.

I found an awesome snowflake fabric at Joann to coordinate with the knitted snowflake motif. Then I laid out my stocking on the fabric, tracing it and adding a half inch seam allowance. I cut it slightly shorter than the stocking (up to the red ridge).

I cut the first piece out, then used it to trace the second piece (turning it so I wouldn't have two front side pieces and no backside pieces.

I wanted to have the right side of the fabric showing towards the inside of the stocking so I was careful to think through which way to sew it. Using my sewing machine I sewed so the right sides were facing each other, all around the stocking except for the top. Then I turned it right side out. I turned the stocking inside out and slid the lining over the inside out stocking. Once it was on the way I wanted it, I stitched the lining to the stocking using an overlock stitch.

The great thing about this particular stocking pattern is there is basically a ridge that forms on the inside near the top, which was the perfect place to attach the lining. Once I finished attaching it I only had to flip the stocking right side out and voilà it was done!

 

Tutu Part two

A few years ago I made a tutu for my niece's second birthday. Obviously she has outgrown that one but a few months ago she asked me to make her a new one. She wanted one like Angelina Ballerina's friend (I have boys who have no interest in the show so I have no idea what her name is). I followed the same pattern as before but obviously made it wider and longer. I varied the length slightly between 13-15 inches long (so I cut the strips between 27-29 inches) to give it a little bit of depth.

I forgot that the increased width and length would really add up. I went through just under four rolls of tulle! But what fun - I kind of want one for me!

I packaged it up with two books to create a nice little gift.

Happy birthday to one of my favorite five year olds!

 

Progress

I think I'm finally getting in the groove with my stocking and am really starting to make progress. In a week I've gone from this:

To this:

It helped to switch needles. I was using my Hiya Hiyas with five inch tips. They were just slightly too long and I felt like I had to force the yarn around because it was stretched so tight. I switched to a four inch tip and now it seems like it's going much more smoothly.

 

Update

What a hectic month! So much happened with family and work. My sister got married! I'm so excited for her and my new BIL is a great guy. I was one of the bridesmaids and my boys were both in the wedding too. I finished the bow ties that I was working on for the little boys.

I'm so happy with the way they turned out.

(Goofy kid modeling the tie at the wedding)

Speaking of this goofy kid, he finished preschool!

And C finished second grade! It's hard to believe that I will have two in elementary school in the fall. They're growing up so fast - J was about 6 months old and C was younger than J is now when I started blogging.

We also adopted a new dog. It was sort of unplanned. We had been talking about getting another dog but hadn't made a firm decision or found one who fit with our family. Then my SIL told us about someone who needed to re home their dog. When we heard more about the dog we knew she would be a perfect fit for our family. So meet Foxy!

She's two and about 30 lbs. She loves our boys and gets along amazingly with our other two. I'm so glad she joined our household.

On top of all of that I also had to travel out of state twice for work in the last month. Not so bad but certainly kept me hopping with all of the other things going on too.

And of course where would I be without my knitting. I finished a set of washcloths for the bride; paired with some Bath and Bodyworks soap and voila I had a nice gift.

Now I'm working on a couple of the projects on my resolution list. I've started the first Christmas stocking. I'm using some leftover acrylic worsted weight from my grandma and a size 7 needle. The pattern is Fiona's stocking and has a spot for customizing names on each one. I also was really drawn to the snowflake motif.

I'm also working on a lacy scarf with a great merino silk blend. This tends to be my more portable project and one that I pick up when I don't feel like eating a chart. It's lace but only has two alternating pattern rows, with a row of purling between each one. The pattern is Strangling Vines and it's perfect for anyone looking for an easy intro to lace. Bonus - one of the groups I belong to on Ravelry is having a lace along, so that is providing the momentum I need to finish it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your time, your place

When do I knit?

Normally my knitting time is at night, after my kids and hubby go to bed. I kick my feet up and try to take advantage of the hubbub of the day dying down in "my" spot on the couch. I also have a great knitting group that I meet with for an hour once a week to knit, compare projects and gab.

I also have a few other non-everyday times that I sneak a little extra knitting in. First, my new job requires a little more traveling than before. I'm a nervous flyer, so having my needles with me helps make the flight go a little smoother. I also make sure to set aside a few hours for knitting every year on my birthday (today, yay!) I go to Starbucks, drink my latte, and knit and just completely relax.

Where do I knit?

Well, as I alluded to before, my primary knitting spot is the couch, even though I sometimes knit in public too. But the space that I really consider my knitting place is our office/craft room. We still need a place for a computer and some books but I've turned the rest of the space into a home for all of my yarn (and fabric and paints and ribbon).

I love this space. It's so cozy and inviting! I've noticed even my kids hang out in here more since we made this a crafting space. I'm so lucky to have a space like this.