Not a Total Betty But a Vast Improvement

Update:  Cream Zippy Cardigan is seamed, ends are all woven in, and it's in the washing machine.  Did I tell you I used a Lion Brand Pound of Love (100% Acrylic) for this one?  For my sister's sanity I chose a yarn that is machine-washable and is, in fact, also machine dry-able as well.  I'm testing the washing instructions out before I sew in the zipper.


I have also completed the first pair of baby leg warmers!


So close to two more FOs for the year ... I feel guilty counting the baby leg warmers, but hey, who said all masterpieces had to be colossal?  I've seen the Mona Lisa, and she, my friends, is no bigger than an 8'' x 10''.


Mrs. Pi 

Weaving in Loose Ends

There have been a few topics I promised in prior posts but neglected to expand upon.  Here they are:


1.  Twice-Knit Knitting, or How Mom and Dad Got Together

Ok, so that's a strong way of putting it.  There were many other chapters in my parents' love story before they got married.  But I guess Twice-Knit Knitting could easily have been Chapter One. It's a sweet story, one that I will probably butcher, since I didn't get the amazing story-telling gene from my Grampa (but that's a topic for another day).


The story starts with my Mom's Mom.  Grandma Murphy is one of the most creative women I know, blessed with the entrepreneurial spirit, the drive to make things happen, and the sass/savvy of a Southern businesswoman.  Off the top of my head, her ventures include selling stoves, owning a plant store & caring for the plants of local businesses, creating and selling appliqued (insert accent aigu) shirts, and designing, making, and selling western wear under her business, Lee Wearable Art.  She also patented two knitting techniques:  knitting in a circle with two straight needles, and double-knitting.  And as if that weren't enough, she also published a knitting book, Twice-Knit Knitting.


It's out of print (sigh), but I have a copy on order through Amazon.  I'll have to scan and post some of the pictures here in a future blog; my Mom, Aunts, and Grampa all modeled her designs.  


See that lovely skimpy number on the right?  The blue bikini?  Yep, my Mom (then-15? 16?) modeled it on a beach (ordinary).  On a beach in winter (out of the ordinary).  To further put in in perspective, there was snow on the beach that day.  They had to hunt around and finally found a spot on the rocks where you couldn't see the snow!  My poor Mom ... by the end of the shoot her nipples were probably as blue as the bikini itself.


So the story continues that my other Grandma, Dad's Mom, bought a copy of Grandma Murphy's book.  Somehow my Dad got his eye on that picture of my Mom, and he cut it out of his Mom's knitting book, and stuck it in the side of his mirror in his room.  All together now:  Awwwwwah!  


And life went on ... and their paths diverged, then converged, and six years after Grandma's book was published, they were married.  Next month marks their 36th anniversary :)


2.  In January I mentioned a "new knitting venture" that I have been considering.

Last post, I showed you the hats I knit for my baby niece while I was down in Virginia.  My sister told me that at one of Leah's doctor's appointments, the nurses and other ladies loved Leah's hat.  She said if I knit up a bunch, she thought I could sell them at $8 - $10 apiece.  


The next week, I found the yarn I used for the hats on Joann.com at a nice discount.  So I bought up a dozen skeins.  I could make 24 hats in different sizes out of that dozen.  I thought maybe I could sell them to friends or referrals.


But the winter has been mild (to say the least) and other projects distracted me from my venture.  So I still might knit up those hats, but maybe I'll give them to charity.  This article particularly moved me to consider it:


http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2012/01/knitters_warm-hearted_bequest.html 


I have a friend near Cleveland, OH who knits, too.  We talked about setting up a non-profit knitting club ... maybe coordinating with our knitting friends around the country to donate one item a month.  It's not much, but a nice pair of mittens or a scarf or a hat could mean the world to one child walking to school in the winter.


3.  Why Pictures Are So Essential To The Success of Blogs

"How can one possibly pay attention to a book with no pictures in it?" 
~Alice, from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll


I confess.  I'm as guilty as any of that most offensive of all offenses: Not reading a blog post, just looking at the pictures.  As I said before, we live in the age of Google Images and Pinterest, where we can visually gorge our appetite for knitting inspiration at the strike of a few keys.  Search for "knit" or "yarn" and you have a smorgasbord of tactile delights.  


Don't deny it: it's human nature that our five senses tend to overpower our intelligence or imagination.  In fact, it is usually for the lack of the former that the latter wins out.


I'm not sure what more I can say on that topic except that, knowing this to be true, I've tried to use more photos in my blogs.  


As an aside, for some reason I like taking up-close pictures of my projects.  I never took a photography class - maybe I should.  It just seems to break up the monotony of the standard project-shot-from-above angle.


So there you have it.  If your curiosity was burning, I hope that was enough to quell the flame.  Now I must leave you, to seam up the cream zippy cardigan!  My sister threw down the gauntlet when I told her about it and she said "Oh, so when will she be getting it?  Next year?  The year after?"  


Apparently I have a reputation for unfinished projects that I need to repair.


(Darnit, it was ok when only I knew it, but now everyone else has noticed too)


Mrs. Pi   

Progress = Success

Eighteen days left in March, and I'm well on my way to KOing three more SOs:


1.  This is the "Cream Baby Sweater" I so creatively mentioned in the 2012 FO Post:

You might have guessed that's not the real name of it.  I'm following a pattern from the book Teach Yourself To Knit by Evie Rosen and Leisure Arts.  It'll be a zip-up hooded baby jacket, although I beg to differ with the "jacket" part of that description.  It's still sweater-weight.  Perhaps they define "jacket" by having a zipper and a hood.  Zippy cardigan, I say!

(There's no way you could know this, but I just spent a good twenty minutes searching twenty some-odd pages of knitting books on Joann.com to find that link.  It would have taken five seconds to run upstairs to the craft room to fetch it.)

I'm knitting size 4, so it's not truly a baby sweater.  We'll see if it fits my 2-year old niece ... I have no concept of sizing for children.  Will it be too small?  Will it be too big?  Will it fit just right?  Will it fit, but need a little bit of rolling at the cuffs?  This last scenario is ideal, because that means she could probably wear it this Spring and also this upcoming fall.  Then, if she's not messy, she can pass it on to her little sister (turning one in November)!

I still need to finish the collar and hood, and seam this baby up.  Oh, and sew in a zipper.

The zipper's going to be the most challenging part for me.  I've never sewn into one of my knit items before.  I remember reading (and apparently NOT starring) a helpful blog article on this very topic:

http://splityarn.com/2011/03/27/easiest-knitted-zipper-install-ever.html 


You don't know this, but it took me quite some time to search my Google Reader feed for that.  I'm just not on my game today.  Article starred, mental note to order some blocking wires.  Riddle me this: Why don't the big-box craft stores sell the most essential knitting tools?


I don't know the answer.  I'm rather like The Mad Hatter in that way.


2.  Baby legwarmers:

I know, they weren't on the list.  In fact, take a lap in my craft room and you'll see there were lots of SOs that weren't on that list.  I have my work cut out for me!

My sister, M, requested knitted legwarmers for both her girls.  Again, I have no concept of baby sizing, so we'll see if this pair fits - oldest or youngest, I'm not picky.  I figure they've got to fit one of the girls.  I'll bring the rest of the skein with me and whip up a pair for the other.  

Oh, did I mention I'm taking a weekend trip to Virginia to visit my nieces (and sister and brother-in-law) in a few weeks?  These sort of trips always inspire a frenzy of knitting activity for me.  It's a productive way to handle the excitement!

Last time I was there, I cranked out these babies:

Nope, not literal human babies.  Although, here's one, modeling the smaller of the two hats:

The shirt truly says it all :)  Sweet girl!


3.  Hedgerow Socks

This picture does the color so much better justice than the first time I mentioned my Hedgerow Socks.

I know it doesn't look like I've progressed too far from the last time I updated you on this SO, but what you can't see is that I was originally planning on revising this pattern to make these knee-high socks.  I started with a few staggered increases for my calves, got a fair bit done, then decided I didn't like my adjustment and had to rip out quite a bit of the progress, back to before I started increasing.

From there, I continued down the ankle, and have gotten so far as to start the heel flap.  So they'll be more like trouser socks.

There you have it!  I've made progress on three of my SOs since last we met!  Yay!


In other news:

No, we're not trying (euphemism for having unprotected sex), but one day we will be trying (having unprotected sex) and I want my body to be a healthy place to grow a baby!    Mr. Pi, sweet, sensitive, thoughtful man that he is, brought these home from the grocery store for me :)  Did I mention I struck gold in the husband department?  I mean platinum.


As a final PSA, don't forget, tomorrow's Pi Day 3/14.  Hug a math nerd, or enjoy a slice :)


Mrs. Pi


P.S. To cite my reference in the title of this post, the start page of my Google Chrome browser shows a thumbnail of facebook, but the caption was "Progress = Success".  So weird.  But relevant to my blog, so I'll bogart it.