Thursday, July 26, 2012

Traveling Baby Sweater Needs Destination



Anchor buttons on the back

Project:  Baby B 兵兵, may be changed to Traveling Baby Sweater (see notes)
Pattern Design B Anchor Sweater from Sirdar Gorgeous Babies Knitting Book
Yarn:  Paton's Classic Wool from stash 
Yardage about 200 yards
Needles: Size 6 & 8
Cast onJuly 14 2012

Cast off: July 25 2012
Cost: about $8 including buttons
Finished size: 24in chest, 11in long, 7in sleeves
Previous entry: last week
Notes: This little sweater is as adorable as I imagined, and I still can't figure out what to do with it. Keeping it for Henry is a long shot. He's 13 and when I proposed the idea he turned purple. I'm a natural pack rat, starting another "collection" is a dangerous path, not to mention I have plenty of stuff to get rid of the way it is.

Here is an idea: I'm going to let Baby B travel from one new baby to another, we'll share pictures on blogs and Ravelry, and see how many homes we can hit in one year. The sweater fits babies about six months old or younger. Depend on the weather, the baby will be able to wear it no more than a few times. It's pure wool and requires hand washing, so it may end up to be a put-it-on-for-a-cute-picture sweater. I'd love to see it being re-used from one knitter's home to another, instead of being stashed in my garage.

Now do you know a new baby?

Happy Friday! Join the party on Andrea's blogTami's blog, and leave me a comment! 

Thursday, July 19, 2012

New Project: Baby B 兵兵

front on the left, back on the right

pattern booklet cover

Design L from the same booklet
Project:  Baby B 兵兵
Pattern Design B Anchor Sweater from Sirdar Gorgeous Babies Knitting Book
Yarn:  Paton's Classic Wool from stash 
Yardage about 200 yards
Needles: Size 6 & 8
Cast onJuly 14 2012
Notes: I did run out of yarn on Nightsong. As I wait for additional supply and with London Olympics starting next week, I decided to do something small and fun. I adored this Sirdar pattern booklet ever since Henry was a wee one. The picture of him in Design L is on Ravelry pattern page. I didn't knit a lot of baby things, for one thing when the baby or toddler is small, one's hands tend to be very occupied. Baby things are expected to be knitted in acrylic or washable wool, both of which I dislike. Now I'm just going to knit something cute and adorable and in the wool yarn that my hands prefer. I don't know what will happen to the sweater yet, it sure is fun to make.
Happy Fiber Arts Friday! Join the party on Andrea's blog and leave me a comment! 

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Nightsongs, and Lovely Blog Award!


Project:  Nightsongs
Pattern Nightsongs by MaweLucky/Jane Araujo, Ravelry free download
Yarn:  Ellen's Half Pint Farm 100% Merino Sock 
Yardage 500 yards
Needles: Size 7
Cast on: June 20 2012
Notes: You can't tell from the picture, but this is a beautiful lace pattern. It starts from the center of the back and knits down. Once I understood the direction and what lines on the chart to repeat, it became very easy. I'm on the edging now (the shorter sides of the triangle), and I really hope that tiny ball of yarn left will be enough for the rest of the 12 rows. 


Our fellow Fiber Arts Friday blogger Kathryn, who blogs at Kathryn's Brain, generously gave me a Lovely Blog Award. Thanks Kathryn! Kathryn is an engineer, and besides her day job, she also tends to her Alpacamundo farm, raises alpaca dogs, and supports her husband in his pursuit of professional racing. Oh of course, she spins, knits, blogs, and collects exotic fibers. I don't know how she does it all.


In order to accept the award, there are a number of things one must do:
1 – Show your Thanks – Thank the person who awarded the honor and link back to them
2 - Share seven things about yourself.
3 – Nominate up to 15 Blogs that you admire.
4 – Contact the bloggers by leaving comments with them about their awards

Over the years I have written "a few interesting things" a few times, so it might be hard to come up with something new and interesting. But here are the earlier versions: 
A to Z

Wow, that's a lot to say about myself! Would anyone actually read them? Now let me see if I can still find seven more to say:

1. My first yoga class was prenatal yoga. We did a lot of child's pose, and kegel. I generally dozed off during shavasana. The class was held in a classroom at Wilson Preschool which Henry and I attended on and off during his preschool years. I remember laying on the floor and staring at the child proof cabinet locks, very puzzled. 
2. I have been alcohol free, or very close to it, for over three years and don't miss a thing.
3. I just discovered how to download and listen to podcast on my phone recently. One very good episode is Americans in China from The American Life. Check it out.
4. I talk to Chinese people about work in English, but do numbers in my head in Chinese.
5. The only game I play, on my computer and on the phone, is solitaire. When my mom calls, I turn on solitaire.
6. In fifth grade I wanted to be a flight attendant when I grew up. Some airline people went to my brother's school to recruit the high school girls, and it sounded so glamorous and spectacular.
7. I have a brown thumb. Once I killed a cactus. 

Blogs I nominate:
1. Otter World -- this blog is near and dear to my heart, because it belongs to Henry. I started it when Henry was in second grade, as a place to park all the cute things he wrote. Over the years he's taken it over and now maintains it himself. We have a few things lined up for the summer and he will be blogging on regular basis.
2. Cat's Tale -- my friend Cathy who I met on Ravelry because of my writing about being Chinese, is Chinese herself but living in Australia by way of Great Britain. We have a lot in common (except for where we live!) and we really look forward to the day when we finally meet in person.
3. Towers Take a Trip -- this is one of the best expat blogs, and it's written by my friend Helen. Helen, with her husband and two boys, followed her husband's job from bay area to India. Her writing is very entertaining and informative. I hope her blog will be featured on one of the major networking sites, because it deserves more attention.
4. Wool love-functional fiber art -- Heather is an exceptional fiber artist. She presents beautiful felt work with comprehensive photos and instructions every week (actually more than once a week). Most of the time I look at them over and over, and say "this is like magic!"
5. Pumpkin Spins -- I don't have many young knitting friends, so I'm pleasantly surprised to see Pumpkin's posting week after week on her knitting, spinning, dyeing and other stories. Her site is well designed, pictures are always nice and clear, and I really enjoy the weekly visits.


Happy Fiber Arts Friday! Join the party on Andrea's blog and leave me a comment! 

Thursday, July 05, 2012

Plaited Poncho Finale

The booboo row is right across Daniella's bosom

Missed one!
Looks better as skirt!
Project:  Plaited Poncho 辨子披肩
Pattern Plaited Poncho by Knitter's Design Team, Knitters Magazine Summer 2005 
Yarn Big green ball of (probably) wool found in my stash, most likely came from eBay
Yardage:   about 900 yards. The ball was wound off a big cone, weighs smidgen below 1lb.
Needles: Size 8
Cast on: April 25, 2012 
Cast off: June 24, 2012
Cost: unknown
Previous entriesfirstsecondthird
Notes: This is a top down design, with increases built into the cables. The cables grow from 2x2 to 7x7. I mis-read one of the rows and messed up the spacing between cables. Then I thought the vertical lines would be perfect to be used like belt loops, so I made an i-cord to thread through them. Not sure if the intention is to hide the mistake or to highlight it, but there it is, with one missed loop to boot. On Daniella the mannequin it actually looks better as a skirt. 

Happy Friday! Join the party on Andrea's blogTami's blog, and leave me a comment!