Tomten, I am done with you. I think.

Let it be known that approximately one year after the Great Tomten Disaster of 2007, I finally managed to complete a Tomten. For those of you who do not keep tabs on the ups-and-downs of my knitterly life, the short version is this: I planned to knit two Tomtens, one for each son. One would be light green trimmed in blue, the other would be blue trimmed in light green. I severely underestimated the amount of yarn I needed (KnitPicks Sierra), and just as I realized that I also discovered that KnitPicks had discontinued - and sold out of - those two colors (approximately two weeks after I had just ordered those colors in what I hadn't realized was a closeout sale). But then a very generous soul sent me the yarn in the blue I needed. And I decided to harvest the green from my very first sweater. I got started, but didn't finish before warm weather hit and I lost my enthusiasm. I set it aside for a year and picked it back up last month.

Just in time to complete what shall hereafter be known as the Great Tomten Disaster of 2008. Okay, perhaps "disaster" is a bit of an exaggeration. Given my string of knitting messes lately it might more accurately be labeled "par for the course."

Actually, the Tomten itself is kind of cute.

pattern: Modular Tomten Jacket, Knitting Without Tears, Elizabeth Zimmermann
yarn: Knit Picks Sierra, in Tide and Lettuce - I have no idea how many skeins
needles: size 9 KP Options
cast on: March 2007
finished: March 2008

But the hood ... well, the hood is what could only be described as ginormous.



I'm not sure how it happened, or why I didn't realize it till I was done, or if anything could be done at this point to correct it. I modified the pattern for the bulky yarn I was using but perhaps I didn't modify the hood enough? Who knows - I did that part over a year ago. At any rate, by the time I was done with this one, I was too disgusted to pick up the other one and finish it for Tiny Dancer. I need to do major recalculating first. Perhaps next March?

I didn't bother adding a zipper, because I figured it wasn't going to get any wear. But then we did this photo shoot. And 43 shots later, I realized something - it actually looks kind of cute on him, ridiculous hood notwithstanding. So I may go back and add a closure after all (current thinking: an added i-cord buttonhole, like this one).

But for now, I leave you with a whole lotta pictures.

Sold!

As much as I adore Elizabeth Zimmermann, until recently I didn't have a single EZ FO to my name. You may remember the Tomten Disaster of 2007. What? You don't commit to memory every woe I blog about? Well, there was a Tomten Disaster that involved running out of yarn, moaning about it all over the internets, and having a very kind person coming to my rescue. Only, by then the Tomten Mojo had weakened, and I couldn't finish before warm weather arrived and obviated the need for bulky hooded sweaters. I still have high hopes for a pair of Tomtens (this spring, perhaps?).

Many nights I bring one of my three EZ books to bed. I don't know why, but I find it endlessly entertaining to read the same chapters over and over again, and stare at those same dim black-and-white photographs, and imagine them in colors of my choosing. I finally decided to do something about it, and in December joined a Knitter's Almanac KAL on Ravelry. I don't know if I'll actually follow the book month-by-month, because I've got plenty of other knitting goals this year, but for now I'm having a lot of fun letting Mrs. Zimmermann lead the way for me.

So when I realized that my sons' Co-Op Preschool would be having a Silent Auction in February, it didn't take me long to figure out what I'd be making. With no babies in my own life to knit for, especially of the female persuasion, I jumped at the chance to make my first ever February Baby Sweater....

... and hat, and blanket.

pattern: Baby Sweater on Two Needles (February Baby Sweater) from Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac
yarn: Socks that Rock, Heavyweight, in Tanzanite, ~3/4 skein (~262 yds)
needles: KP Options, size 5
cast on: January 15
finished: January 22
modifications: I didn't make buttonholes as I went along, primarily because I forgot (the pattern doesn't make them explicit when you would expect). When I realized I had left the first one out, I decided to keep going and add afterthought buttonholes later. Only once I got done with both the sweater and the matching hat, I had approximately 10 inches of yarn left. I didn't think that would be enough to do the buttonholes. So I went a different route, and tried snaps for the first time ever.


In the end, I was pleased that I had forgotten the original buttonholes, because it gave me the opportunity to consider my preferences for buttons after the sweater was complete. I got to try out multiple options before committing, and I quite liked the effect of the two buttons at the top. The buttons themselves were so sweet - little lilac shell buttons that were ridiculously hard to photograph.

[For a truly inspired February Baby Sweater closure, check out Minty's amazing version.]

In terms of other mods, I also knit the body first, just because that's what feels most natural to me, and then knit the sleeves in the round, because why seam? (I'm still a little perplexed as to why the Queen of Seamless would have us knit these flat).

verdict: There's a reason this pattern is so popular. It knits up quick and easy, and the final effect is what I would actually call heirloom quality. Such a beautiful baby cardigan, and not in a frilly or frou-frou way. This is going to be my new go-to baby sweater, at least for baby girls.
The Socks that Rock was a great squishy option for this sweater, and the color was amazing. Yardage is great too, but I overestimated how much stuff I could make from one skein. My original plan was a sweater, a hat, and a pair of Saarjte's bootees, but as it was I barely had enough to finish the hat. Next time I might use Dream in Color Smooshy, which looks to have enough yardage for all three.

Speaking of the hat:

That's how far I got the first try before running out of yarn.
So I had to frog and try again in a smaller size.

pattern: Just a basic baby hat with garter brim and gull lace. I cast on 63 (9 pattern repeats) and decreased based on how I estimated I was doing yardage-wise. If you're looking to do one of these, teeweewonders has great instructions in her Ravelry notebook.
yarn: Socks that Rock, Tanzanite (color not true in above picture), heavyweight, ~1/4 skein (~88 yards)
cast on: January 24
finished: January 25
verdict: I love it, especially with the shell button embellishment.

pattern: Scalloped Baby Blanket from Bend-the-Rules Sewing, by Amy Karol
fabric: Folklore Doily in lilac for front, Full Moon Forest Rabbits in purple for the back, both from reprodepot
started: January 25
finished: January 28
modifications: none that were intentional
notes: I screwed up in multiple ways in the beginning and never fully recovered.
#1 - I failed to take into consideration the directional nature of the rabbit fabric when cutting. There were two ways to deal with this once it was done (given that I did not buy extra fabric). I could've kept the dimensions as they were and let the bunnies run horizontally across the back (as opposed to vertically, which is how I'd envisioned them). Or I could cut all the fabric smaller to make the rabbits run vertically. That's what I did, which resulted in a blanket that was smaller and more squarish than the pattern indicates. That was not ideal but it was all right (it also means I got to keep a few scraps of the yummy rabbit fabric).
#2 - When I traced the template onto the front fabric, I didn't get it square. So the scallops on the final side did not meet up right. Instead of completely re-drawing, I tried to fudge it. So a couple of the scallops on one side were not quite the same size as the rest. I thought it wasn't that noticeable, but when I look at pictures now I realize it was more noticeable than I thought.
#3 - After this mess, I - for reasons I can no longer recall and surely make no sense at all - decided to disregard the directions and cut the fabric along the scallops instead of using the scallop line as my sewing line and then cutting. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. This made for nearly disastrous sewing, as I attempted to sew all the scallops 1/8" from the cut edge. It would have been soooo much easier (and faster!) to sew on a drawn curve than that close to a cut curve. This made making the blanket not near the joy it could've been, and it made the scallops turn out less even than they should've been.
verdict: If you can avoid making stupid mistakes, this pattern could not be simpler or more delightful. It makes a super-cute little blanket. And I am totally in love with the front fabric:


In retrospect, I should not have contributed this to the auction, as I am completely embarrassed now when I look at the photos. I thought perhaps I could make another one just like it, but better, to send to the person who bought it, but now I see that the rabbit fabric is no longer available. I still might try again, with a different back fabric. I know now that the key to getting it right is making sure to square up everything when drawing the scallops from the template.

In the end, the Silent Auction was a success. The school raised several thousand dollars, I got a steal on a child-sized solid wood table and chairs, and my little baby set sold, for $50. Less than the cost of materials, but I had feared it wouldn't sell at all.

I am sold, too.
On Elizabeth Zimmermann!

Organic Gifting. And day-making.

I suppose that five weeks into the year is as good a time as any to finally start blogging 2008's projects. I can't believe what a backlog I have created for myself. I guess that's what I get for knitting instead of blogging. Though I have to admit that lately, I've barely had time for knitting lately either.

When I married My Old Man - seven years ago this Sunday! - I got more than just a husband, I got a great new family, too. In addition to wonderful in-laws and the best niece and nephew in the world (seriously, y'all would not believe how fabulous these two human beings are - sometimes when I'm with them all I can do is just stare at them because they are such really amazing [and beautiful] people), I have what some people would call a stepdaughter (and stepson-in-law and step-grandson!) and stepson. We've never really used that language - his kids were both essentially grown when their dad and I married and neither one of them ever lived with us. Also, I'm a little bit close in age to them (6 years older than his daughter, 12 years older than his son), so it just seemed strange. I refer to them as my husband's kids, they refer to me as their dad's wife, except when Chris really wants to freak people out and he calls me his stepmom. At any rate, I adore them all.

The funny thing is, I feel as related to Chris as I do to anyone in my blood family, which is saying a lot because I am very close to my blood kin and have a deep sense of kinship with most of them. There are things Chris and I have in common with each other that neither of us have in common with any of our blood relatives, particularly when it comes to interests and opinions. Also, he appreciates a handmade gift more than anyone know. For that alone, he will have my undying love. When it comes to craft, the guy really gets it. He himself would rather make something than buy it, do something rather than pay someone else to do it. He understands the intrinsic value of handmade things (and the revolutionary potential of making things oneself). [One of my all-time favorite gifts is one he gave me when he was 19 - a small hippo he sculpted out of clay, along with a little trail of hippo turds. Yeah, I love his sense of humor, too.]

Chris was the first person to ever give me unsolicited yarn as a gift. My Old Man had certainly given me yarn gifts - of yarn I had particularly picked out and pointed him to. But Chris was the first one who ever got me any just because he saw some he thought I might like. He bought it at a farmer's market in Devon, England, near where he lives; it came from local sheep and was undyed. It was gorgeous DK weight Shetland wool.

I held onto it for a year, waiting for an idea of what it should become. It was two skeins - 50g of a light tan and 50 g of a medium brown. Right after Christmas, while I was visiting Chris and his sister and her family, it finally sprang into being:

a Zeebee Helmet

The reason I call this an organic gift is because I collaborated with Chris to produce something to his specifications, and it kept sort of evolving as we both went along. Holding the yarn double, I first made a Zeebee. He tried it on, said he liked it but could I make it to cover his ears? So I added earflaps. He tried it on, said he liked it, but could I make the earflaps bigger? So I ripped and made them bigger, adding long i-cords to tie under his chin. He tried it on, said he liked it, but could I make it to cover his neck? So I picked up stitches and made what can only be described as a "neckflap." The result? A medieval-looking helmet. A little funky-looking, but it's warm. And I think it suits him.

pattern: Zeebee
yarn: 100g DK weight Shetland wool, undyed, two different colors, held double
needles: KP Options, size 7
started: January 1
finished: January 3
notes: I tinkered around with this thing so much that by the time I finally got the earflaps the size I wanted, I didn't really have them centered right on the sides of the Zeebee, but I didn't notice till I was putting on the neckflap. You can see that in the final picture above. There was no time to rip and re-do, and by that point I was ready to be done with it anyway.

If I were to do a Zeebee Helmet again, I would probably figure out a way to add the earflaps and neckflap all at once, rather than the sort of piecemeal approach I did here.

In the end, I guess this was the perfect use for this yarn, because it took exactly the amount that I had.

So there ya go. My first FO of 2008.

In other news, my day was made a few times lately by people who told me I made their day. Maria at Passing Down Crazy, Lia at The Fruity Sheep, and Rachel at Lickety Knit all gave me the Make My Day award.

Thanks, y'all. It really did make my day to receive such acknowledgement from you. (And in the process, I got introduced to two new - to me - blogs! Thanks, Maria and Lia! The rest of you should go check them out). Rachel kicked the kudos up a notch by calling my blog the most under-read blog in the knitblogosphere. That made my week.

I'm supposed to now name 10 blogs that make my day, which I find rather difficult. For one, I hate to leave anyone out - every blog I subscribe to I love for one reason or another. Secondly, I have to admit that my blog-reading (and especially my blog-commenting) has taken a huge hit lately. So apologies for what is really not remotely a complete list of blogs that I enjoy. At any rate, without further ado, here are 10 blogs that really do make my day.

First, a few you're probably already reading:
Lickety Knit - now in a monthly format, which is just perfect for my current blog-reading tendencies. Rachel is hilarious and brilliant, and a great knitter, too!

Pepperknit - what do I love more: minty's blog or her daily flickr updates? It's hard to say. Minty's just all-around-lovable, except when I'm totally envious of the fact that she and Rachel spend every weekend together. Minty will protest that it's really not that often, but I think the fact that she now tosses off casual references to their outings is proof enough.

Dogged - come for the knitting, stay for the sewing, fall in love with the photography and the writing. Like many of us, Ashley is blogging a bit less these days, but I still get my daily dose of her on flickr. Love her daily 365 shots. Ashley lives just close enough that I could actually stalk her, but so far I have restrained myself.

Novamade - knitting, sewing, pie, photography, and Little Sir. 'Nuff said.

Zigzagstitch - could Mandy and her family be any cuter? The great Super Bowl Hat Challenge was only the latest of Mandy's amazing accomplishments. I first found my way to her blog when she posted her beautiful Tomten to Zimmermania ages ago, and I've been addicted ever since.

Schrodinger Knits - Schrodinger knits, sews, spins, and designs, and what currently impresses me most is how she is rocking the Etsy shop. Just opened in the fall and she has already made and sold a few hundred sock bags! I am truly in awe. I feel like I can also say "I knew her when" because I have been reading her blog almost since its inception.

And a few you may not know about:
Mer Knits - this may be the blog I've been reading the longest. I first knew Mer over at Knitting Help (the same place I first knew schrodinger) and her blog was linked in her sig line. I think it was the first I ever knew of knitting blogs, and what I saw on hers was a constant source of inspiration. She knits a lot of tops and sweaters, and they always look fabulous on her. Her galleries alone are worth a visit to her blog.

Naptime Musings - pregnant with her third (and surprise!) baby, and with plenty on her plate, Sarah recently declared that she was going to give blogging a break for awhile, and I was so disappointed. So I was thrilled to see her light up my Google Reader again this week - looks like the break is over! I've been reading Sarah's blog for as long as I've been blogging; I love keeping up with her crafting and her family life (her adorable Emma may just be the perfect match for one of my guys some day....). It was a picture of some pj bottoms that Sarah made that finally inspired me to get out the old sewing machine and give it a whirl.

Don't Call Me Becky - I first found my way over to Rebekah's blog from Anna Maria Horner's blog, when Anna Maria linked to Rebekah's gorgeous quilt, made from Anna Maria's Bohemian fabric line. It was so amazing, as is everything Rebekah makes, and I immediately subscribed. It was only a year later, when I read this post, that I discovered something shocking about that Bohemian quilt: it was Rebekah's very first. I still can hardly get my mind around that. And she has made many more beauties since that one. Huge inspiration for this novice quilter.

Doulicia - this is the best Ravelry story I know. In December, I got a message in my Ravelry inbox with the subject line "I think we actually know each other in real life." Turns out it was my neighbor from three doors down; we've lived down the street from each other for five years. I first met her and her two sons when my boys were six weeks old and I was out taking them for a stroller ride. It turned out she was a doula, and she was the first person to really get the horror of my birth story, and the complicated feelings I had around it. A few days later she brought over the most delicious spinach pie, the meal she brings to her doula clients. We've had friendly conversations ever since, but it wasn't until Ravelry when we each learned that the other both knitted and blogged - and that we have the same birthday. Doulicia's blog started out primarily on the topics of birthing, family, and doula-related issues, but these days she includes more and more knitting content. Since we connected on Ravelry, Doulicia has even invited me to her knitting group - the first time I've ever been to one!

And to bring this post full circle, here's a non-knitting blog that makes my day:
Exeterra - this is Chris's blog, and always a delight to read. Chris is working on his PhD in social pyschology at Exeter University in England. His particular interest is in motivating social groups towards more environmentally ethical action. His blog covers all sorts of interesting topics, like education, science, the environment, creativity, and bunnies.

Wow. This post took way longer than I expected it to. If you've read this far, then thanks for sticking around. All of my readers make my day, and regularly. So thanks!

More Old News!

[Part II: Christmas knitting]

I had decided that I was going to do no Christmas knitting this year. I get tired of associating so many deadlines (and, therefore, stress) with a hobby that I meant to be strictly for my own enjoyment and relaxation. But in the end, I couldn't quite keep my promise to myself. I only broke it in the tiniest way possible, though. Two pairs of child's socks. Not much work, and no stress at all.

In a way, it's a little sad that I don't knit more things for my boys. Part of the problem is that I can never knit just one of anything for them. Whatever I make for one of my sons, I had better be prepared to make for the other. Also, it turns out that little boys grow kind of fast. So I have to accept the fact that anything I knit will be outgrown rather quickly - and sometimes I'm just not willing to put the time into something that will only get a few months of wear. And finally, if you don't have three year-olds in your life you might not realize what fickle creatures they can be. My boys can be very excited about something I'm in the process of knitting, and then thoroughly uninterested in it when I present it to them. Knitting for them is definitely a gamble. It's not always a gamble I'm willing to take, when there is another person I know (namely, me) who is always pleased to receive a handknit item.

This summer, when I took Little Buddha to Knit Nouveau in Birmingham, I let him pick out a skein of TOFUtsies, promising him a pair of socks for him and his brother. He picked hot pink. I talked him into a blue/grey instead. *sigh* Clearly, I am more bound by the societal norms of gender construction than I once thought: I am simply not ready to spend hours knitting hot pink socks for my sons.

Making these socks brought up all kinds of tender feelings in me. Those feet! Those feet were so tiny once. The length of my thumb. I would slide my hand along the soft, fat bottoms of their feet while they nursed. I would gaze at those impossibly tiny, impossibly hot pink toes, and marvel at their beauty and perfection. Those feet!

Those feet are so big now. Almost as long as my hand. Those feet wear big boy shoes now, and snow boots. They jump, and skip, and run, and kick a ball. They are not baby feet. They are not toddler feet. They are boy feet. And they are still so sweet.

And it is those feet that are tapping the beat of time for me, too. Because those feet are not going to stop growing, not for a long time. They will one day be longer than mine, and those boys will be men. Their feet keep telling me so.

And it is for this reason that I want to start knitting socks for those growing feet. I want to mark the years with my socks. I want to cover their still-sweet toes and their still-soft soles with my love, my hours, my stitches. They can outgrow them, it's okay. I will make more. And then I will make still more. I will make socks for those sweet feet until I cannot knit another stitch.

pattern: basic toe-up socks, recipe from Sensational Knitted Socks
yarn: TOFUtsies, color 789
needles: size 0 dpns
for: Tiny Dancer
cast on: December 14
bound off: December 19
notes: I ended up making these a little short in the foot, unfortunately, and they also look like slightly different sizes, though I thought I knit them the same. And the colors ended up coming out differently from one sock to the next.
verdict: I'm not wild about knitting with this yarn (splitty, a bit slippery), but I love the final fabric, and it is taking a LOT of hard wear very well. After two pairs of children's socks, I still have at least 1/3 of the skein left (at least enough for another pair of children's socks, or maybe enough for a pair of yoga socks for me). I really liked using the basic recipe from this book to determine the pattern. This is my second toe-up attempt and this one did come out better than the last. My next toe-up attempt will be following Cat Bordhi's New Pathways book - a book I'm very excited about.

pattern: basic cuff-down socks recipe from Sensational Knitted Socks
yarn: TOFUtsies, color 789
needles: size 0 dpns
for: Little Buddha
cast on: December 8
bound off: December 13
notes: somehow I made one sock slightly shorter and fatter than the other. What can I say - I was in a hurry. Still, you can't tell that either pair has size discrepancies once they are on the foot.

These are certainly not the prettiest or most interesting things I have ever made. But they hold an unusual amount of emotional content for me. I have a strange strong love for them - and the feet that are in them!

Home and other happy things

I have several random things to share (including Actual! Knitting! Content!), so I'm just going to jump right in.

1. Home.

We arrived home a week ago tonight and are slowly settling into regular life again. Coming home was rather emotional for me, living so close to the reality that we almost came back with only one child. The tears were from gratitude and relief, but from sadness too. On a visceral level, the trauma of what happened somehow imprinted itself, so that even though things turned out happily, there's a part of me that can't shake the horror or the grief.

But mostly there is happiness, and gratitude, and amazement. Here is the picture that almost wasn't, taken the night after Little Buddha's accident:

we look pretty dang happy, don't we?

One of the most tender things to come out of the trauma has been the increased affection and closeness between Tiny Dancer and Little Buddha. They have always seemed to love and enjoy each other, and they are both very affectionate little boys. But the accident seems to have intensified their relationship, especially for Tiny Dancer.

a poignant moment at the lake at the beach,
the day after the accident

Tiny Dancer embracing Little Buddha

There is so much still to process about what happened, at least for me. The boys, though, seem to have moved on, for which I'm grateful. Ah, the resilience of a three year-old.

2. National coverage.

If you missed The Early Show segment on CBS, you can view it here. (in the drop-down menu select "videos" and then type in "sand danger"). Overall, I was pleased with the job they did, and mostly just grateful that My Old Man and I didn't appear to be total idiots (you never know what stupid thing is going to accidentally come out of your mouth that will become a sound bite). There are a couple of corrections, though. They said that our son climbed into the hole, whereas he says he fell, and that's what we said in the interview, repeatedly. This was an important point to me because I want people to realize that this can happen entirely accidentally, if other children do not cover up the holes they dig. Also, the news show said he was in the hole for 10 minutes, when it was really more like 5 (long enough, trust me). I shudder to think of him buried alive for twice as long as he was. The possibility of his still being alive at that point would've been even more remote.

Still, I am grateful for the coverage of what happened, because I believe that raising awareness about this potential beach danger is the only way to prevent it from happening to other children.

3. Guardian angels.

There still aren't words to express my gratitude for Erika Orlando, the young woman who felt led to look in the sand for him. She and I are in correspondence now, and she is delightful. She's a twin, too. To read her version of events, and see all the "coincidences" involved in her even being in the beach at that particular moment, is amazing. I thank God for her every day. I wish every child had a guardian angel like her.

4. Happiness in blogland.

My life hasn't been only about the trauma, even though I clearly can't seem to write about anything else. First, my day started yesterday with an email from Cara telling me I had won her latest contest! You know, winning yarn (and an awesome pattern!) made me unbelievably happy - it really made my day. I am so into lace right now (not that you can tell, given how little I actually write about knitting on my blog these days), so I'm super-psyched. Unfortunately, Ravelry is keeping me honest - I have a ridiculous number of WIPs and hibernating projects right now, so it will probably be awhile before I can reasonably cast on. At any rate, Cara rocks! But you already knew that.

Then later in the day, I was notified that I had won a little something else: a Perfect Post award from Lani, for my posts about Little Buddha's accident.

Isn't that cool?
I'm so honored.

Seems like I'm on a roll for winning stuff in blogland, so I guess I better hurry up and enter this contest to win a 37" flat-panel TV from Best Buy. You should enter too!

5. Knitting.

Ah, yes, this is a knitting blog, isn't it?

Well, I got my Sockapalooza socks done - not that you even knew I was doing Sockapalooza since I have failed to write about it even one time, or even put the little button on my blog (can you tell I'm all out of sorts with my blogger template right now? - everything's kinked up over there in the sidebar and I haven't gotten my old buttons back up yet). At any rate, here they are:

pattern: Waving Lace Socks, by Evelyn Clark, from Favorite Socks
yarn: Lazy Perry Ranch Superwash Supersock Merino from Collette's Etsy shop
color - Brown and Pink
needles: size 0 dpns
started: July 14
finished: July 27
modifications: none
verdict: I'm pleased. My sock pal has the same size foot as me, and these fit me perfectly. And, of course, brown and pink is one of my favorite color combos. I actually bought this yarn for myself and had started a pair for my sock pal in a different colorway. When I finished it, though, I realized I couldn't give it away. More about that another time....
At any rate, I really loved this yarn, and this pattern is super. So pretty, so easy, so interesting. I realize the pattern would show up better in a solid or semi-solid, but I was just itching to use some variegated. The pattern shows up better in real life than it does in these pictures. I found these socks unusually hard to photograph. Here are some detail shots:

Thank you again, for your many kind words in the comments and in my email inbox. It means so much to me to feel like people really understand the horror we went through, as well as the fact that you are sharing in our happiness at the outcome. Thank you, friends.