Ooo Baby Knits

Soup’s On!

Brilliant sunsets and cool evenings, camping and marshmallow roasts under a canopy of gold- I love fall. Tank tops, be gone! Move over shorts; make room for sweaters. Break out the hot chocolate and blankies. Say farewell to fireflies and hummingbirds (and a special good bye to mosquitoes), and hello to chickadees and juncos.

My favorite cool weather treat? Soup! I made my first of many pots of veggie soup yesterday. I don’t have a recipe and never make it exactly the same, just use whatever I have, but here’s what I did for this pot.

Brown 1 pound ground beef (more or less, leave out or use cut up steak or chicken) in a very large stockpot. While it’s browning, cut up 4 medium red potatoes, 4 carrots, and a package of fresh okra. Drain the meat and add 8 cups of water and 8 beef bullion cubes (or chicken or veggie). Bring to a boil and add fresh lima beans (a cup or two?). Let them get a head start of 5 or 10 minutes, then add the other veggies. In another 10 minutes, add a large can of diced tomatoes with green pepper and onion (or fresh if you still have any Romas in your garden. I didn’t), a handful of fresh herbs (or dried, whatever. I used sage, basil, oregano, and a couple of cloves of garlic) you chop while the veggies are cooking, and that package of corn you froze when you fixed too many ears of corn on the cob last month. Cook a little longer while you make cheese toast. Eat all you can, force it on your family, give some to the neighbors, put some in the fridge for tomorrow, and some in the freezer. I always freeze some in single serving containers for easy lunching.

Now go back to knitting.

I have branched out. I was afraid it would be too short to even wrap around my neck, but I blocked the heck out of it,

and my heckless scarf is now the perfect length. Thanks again, Suzanne! I love the silvery color. I’m thinking I may knit one for Mom-in-Law for Christmas. Hmm. I'm noticing some little pin pulls on the side. Must fix that.

One other little thing finished… a hat and scarf set for the homeless shelter.

Yes, I realize I'm lying down. I can't figure out how to fix it, so here ya' go. Let's just pretend that it's right side up. And that I don't have a double chin.

It's seed harvesting time! I going out side right now to start gathering seeds from the spider flower (pictured with Sammie below). They can grow 5'-7', and come back prolifically from seed each year. Anyone want some? You can just toss them out now, and they'll come up in the spring. Or wait and plant then. Whatever.

Cooking tip: Use baking soda to put out grease fires.

Stalled

Once again I have lost interest in the Rambling Rows. Oh, ye fickle knitter. Back in the closet with the other UFOs. I found buttons to sew the handle on my new green purse, but now I can’t find the handle. I had it last week. I cut it a little shorter and poked new holes in it. Now all I can find are the pieces I cut off. Then I misplaced the pattern for the pink and cream sweater, so I had to find new things to do. Believe me, I have not been bored.

I knit another sweater for little B, the child we sponsor, using 2 skeins of Lion Brand Terryspun and the pattern on their site. There was not enough to knit the hood (I knit the largest size), so I made a collar. I’ve knit this pattern several times in different sizes using multi-strands of various yarns, and I like the way it comes out. Very quick and easy, so a good one when you need a quick baby gift or just the satisfaction of actually finishing something.

My purse knitting lately has been anti-procrastination socks. I finished a pair of gray, worsted wool socks for CIC or A4A and lost them. Go figure. Now I’m working on a pair I started last year using the Fluted Banister pattern from the 6 Sox group. These will be Mom’s birthday present. I will have to lengthen the one I’ve finished. I have no idea who I originally intended them for- no one in our family of big foots.

Another anti-procrastination project, this one 2 years old. I’m making it up as I go and ran out of the speckled yarn, so ordered the black to finish it up. Of course I started something else while waiting for the yarn and never got back to it. Maybe by next summer.

The lovely Suzanne of SP5 sent me this wonderful skein of Alpaca & Silk from Blue Sky Alpacas. Blog surfing the other day, I found someone (wish I remembered who) who was knitting the Branching Out scarf from Knitty, and decided that’s what this yarn wants to be. Great pattern. Only a 10 row repeat. I haven’t memorized it, but it’s easy to follow.

On the baby front, I finished up a preemie sweater, started a newborn, and am working up a passel of booties.

I think I’ll keep working on little things for now. I need to start Hubby’s birthday socks, then the next large project will be his sweater for Christmas! I’m still searching for a pattern. Any suggestions? He’s not a sweater guy, so I was really surprised when he asked me to knit him one. The only one he has is a plain, solid grayish he bought at Old Navy a couple of years ago for $4. I’ll knit in worsted- no heavier. No fussy cables or color-work, but I do want it to be interesting, not just stockinette. The patterns I've found so far are blech.

I've been trying to get a good picture of the pups, but all I seem to come up with are drooling tongues and rumps. I snapped this one through the office window, hence the hazy look.

Hanging at the Yadkin Valley Stomp

This is Hubby’s third year racing hare scrambles and cross-country (dirt bike racing over hill and dale), and this is the first time I’ve been able to go. The GNCC is big time racing (even in the amateur class). I’ve see videos (Hubby’s favorite movie night viewing. Ahem.), my DDs have autographed posters, and they’ve even been mooned by the Dunlap team. Yet, I’d never been.

Hubby’s racing buddy, Brian, Brian’s son and his fiancée and her daughter (who incidentally wants to learn to knit) met us there. They have a trailer and always camp. We love camping, but not in that crowd and not in that dust, so we stayed in a hotel. Sissies all.

Saturday, Hubby registered and we found a great place in the shade to park it and watch the youth race though the woods. No picture- too busy watching and knitting baby booties. (Yeah, like I’m going to go anywhere and not knit.)

Sunday, Hubby raced at 10am.

He was stunning, he was dashing, he made the dust fly when he sped by. And how did he place, you ask? Why last in his class, of course. He and Brian aren’t too competitive in this series except with each other, as you can tell by the water and cigar break.

The pros raced in the afternoon. That morning, the powers that be decided that it would be oh so fun to reroute the course and send them through an old house. Not straight through, mind you- into the living room,

right to the kitchen, left to the den, and right again out the back door.

Way cool. Of course we had front row seats for this. DDs did get a bit bored after a couple of hours, and we were all totally covered with reddish dirt by the end. I did eventually have to stop knitting. We lost our shade, and sweaty, dust-covered hands make for muddy booties I quickly found.

Does this count for Extreme Knitting?

Post Haste

We're going out if town tomorrow- little family jaunt we are so looking forward to. I hope to come back with a picture or two for Extreme Knitting. But before I leave I have to tell you who my secret pal was- Suzanne! She was the best and I gave her no credit. Shame, shame, and more shame on me. I've already knit my purse:

It's drying and it can't wait to be used. I knit it a little larger than the pattern, so didn't have enough for handles. But never fear! I just so happen to have a brown leather handle that will look luverly.

Hubby brought home some dry ice yesterday that we had to spend all evening playing with. (With which we had to spend all evening playing, I know- it just sounds funny.) DD#2 had to take 50 pictures. I leave you with a few:

Spoiled Rotten

And loving it! I checked the mail today and didn’t even bother to look down. I almost missed this!

Aren’t these the most luscious yarns? (Even better then the picture shows- I don't think the flash is working well.) Oh, the gears are turning. I can’t wait to get started. The green wool is for a felted bag- perfect color for fall. And the buttons- I love ceramic buttons! I can never find good buttons. I always say (at least I should have said) if you’re going to put all that work into a sweater, use good yarn and adorable, unique, lovely buttons. Cute cards and gourmet seeds to plant in my garden next spring! The pups will not dig these up, water them, or bite their little heads off. Or else. And I mean it. This darling didn’t make the above picture because she’s already been put in the sty. I think it makes a nice trough.

Button, button, who’s got the button? No one in Danville. We have Wal-Mart, Hobby Lobby, Hancock’s, and Barbie Fabrics. No one has a decent button selection. Actually Barbie’s has the best, and I believe they have the same buttons they had when I went there as a little girl. No joke. After sorting through the button boxes and racks, all I could come up with were these:

They did have some nice ones, but of course none matched my sweaters. The baby set is for a couple at church- and I do know their names. The yarn is Encore DK, the pattern is from Creative Knitting Sept. 2004. The pattern has flaws and I think the sleeves are too narrow, but the hat and booties came out fine. I will probably knit it again with modifications. I will not renew this subscription. Can you say blech? I will not use a knit-in garter facing for cardigans any more. It warps the front of the sweater. I will now get back to my knitting.

The pups are growing, almost 7 months old now, and eating everything- table legs, the deck, anything they can get out of the dirty clothes basket in the laundry room. Ahh, parenthood.

The “What Was I Thinking Award” Goes To……

I mean, really, what was I thinking? Several years ago, our Ames went out of business. Although I’d been knitting for years, I was just starting to knit and hoard yarn obsessively. I didn’t have a LYS or know about the joys of internet shopping, so when I found Sugar ‘n Cream for 50 cents a skein, I filled a cart and started knitting this. I got this far (plus a few inches of sleeves) and, as I am known to do, found something more interesting to knit. I dug the green thing up this weekend looking for another anti-procrastination project to work on. Now I ask myself, Would I buy this? Nope. Would I wear this if someone gave it to me for Christmas? Nope. Hello 3-mile return line.Will I finish it? Nope. It is very soft and I like the fit, but still, nope.

This is a definite yep.

It does need the perfect buttons, but this I would buy, this I will wear, and I’m so glad I actually finished it!

On a personal note, I’ve been glued to the TV with phone in hand this week. We have relatives in Diamond Head, Ms and Baton Rouge. My Aunt Sue was too ill to evacuate so went to stay with another aunt and uncle in Diamond Head. We finally got word that they are okay and have gone to stay with my cousin in Baton Rouge. Their homes will not be habitable for months if ever. I am shocked at the devastation and have no words to describe my anguish at the nightmare these survivors are enduring. We have donated to a local organizatioin, God’s Pit Crew, that will take supplies down through a collection DD #1’s class is taking, and I’m sure we will give more.