Felt Like Knitting

First stranded knitting project

I have an FO to share - my first stranded knitting project!  This baby hat is for my new niece for part of her Christmas present.  She'll be almost 1 year old then and I hope this hat will fit her.  I also plan on knitting a sweater to complement the hat.

This is actually the second one I did.  The first hat had several problems, so I frogged it.  This one is better, but I do have a question for the experts out there.  What is the best way to avoid the jog at the color change?  I tried The Yarn Harlot's method and it looks okay.  But, when I stretch the knitting out, there is a column of knit stitches that separates from the rest.  It does get better as I weave in the ends, but I'm not thrilled with this.  Is there a solution?

Details:

Pattern:  Peek-A-Boo! Fair Isle Beanie from Simply Knitting magazine (April 2007 issue)

Yarn:  Lion Brand Cotton Ease  (Thanks again, RK!)

Needles:  size 7 circs

There has also been some work on charity hats.  There are photos in one of my sidebar photo albums.  They're not the prettiest hats since I'm using up old yarn.  (Why in the world did I ever buy some of this stuff?!)  Hopefully they're not too ugly for someone to wear. 

There has also been a little lace knitting on the top, but not enough to show another picture.  I'm finding that I have to have time to sit down quietly and uninterrupted to be able to work on it.  This explains why I have several hats yet very little lace top to show.

And finally, in personal news, I believe I have my annual case of poison ivy already.  This one surprised me, but now I do recall doing some weeding last weekend (without gloves!).  I must have gotten into some roots that I didn't realize belonged to a poison ivy plant.  No doctor's visit yet, but I can see it on the horizon.

Everyone else is in bed, so I think I'll go squeeze in a little more knitting on that top...

A story

I'm learning a lot about my mom.  (Hi, Mom!)  We haven't spent any extra time on the phone recently and we haven't seen each other in months.  But, I'm learning about her from the relationship I have with my daughter.  As E grows older, I see her as my 7th grade self and me as my 30/40-something mom.  Things are all becoming much clearer to me as I'm beginning to see how my mom may have seen things way back then.  :)

My mom is a problem-solver.  She usually has a back-up plan and advice for people who need it.  Raising four kids with little money forces a person to think creatively!  Tonight I was reminded of a creative solution she gave me when I was in elementary school and I thought I'd share this with you in the form of a story.  It goes something like this...

Once upon a time (a long, long, long time ago), there was a little Girl Scout.  She lived in a very small town in a far away place called Ohio.  Little Girl Scout walked with her friends from school to the American Legion hall once a week for a meeting.  All the little girls carried their Girl Scout handbooks, lunch boxes, school papers, and the occasional orchestra or band instrument.  Their walk to the American Legion hall was short and they chatted as they walked.

But one day, a big, older boy was hiding in an empty garage and jumped out at them when they walked by and followed them as they ran.  The scared Girl Scouts ran like the wind to escape the Big Meanie.  This bothered Little Girl Scout and she shared this with her mom.

Creative Mom came up with a solution.  The next week, Little Girl Scout shared the idea with the other Girl Scouts.  They agreed that it was a good plan and proceeded on their journey to the hall.  Sure enough, Big Meanie was waiting for them in his trench coat.  (No kidding.  He really wore a trench coat.)  And sure enough, he started following them.  "Now!!!" shouted Little Girl Scout.  All of the girls threw down their paraphernalia, turned, yelled, and chased Big Meanie.  Boy, did he turn and run.  And he never bothered the little Girl Scouts again.  The end.

I love it when the good guys girls win.  :)

Making paints

Several people were interested in reading more about the paints we made in Botany.  Here is the source I used and here are some details in case you want to make your own.  (I thought about making a tutorial, but I didn't because I'm really not sure that I've done this correctly.)

I ground things in my mortar and pestle, but most things were finely ground to begin with.  The burnt wood was ground outside with a rock.  Everything was air dry when I started.

The gum arabic was purchased at Michael's for about $12.99 (I think).  The palette knife was in a two-pack for about $2.99 or so.

After the item was finely ground, I placed it on a plastic tray that grocery stores use for vegetables or deli meats for parties.  I found that it took more than a drop of gum arabic to make a paste.  Once it looked like it was all combined, I added water.  I kept adding water and stirring until it looked like it would yield a fair amount of paint (without giving a paint that was too light).

The paint was then filtered into cups via a coffee filter.  You may have to squeeze the filter to speed up the process.  But, be careful because it's easy to tear the filter or squeeze the "grounds" up over the top of it.

The paint seems to not spoil too easily.  I made it on a Thursday evening and we didn't get to it until Tuesday.  It was kept in my cool garage during this time, so that probably helped.  The dill paint looked like it may have changed colors a bit, but I didn't compare "before and after" samples.  I don't know how light-fast this is or whether it would stay on the paper if the paper got wet.

All in all, this was a fun project that the kids and I enjoyed.  Part of the fun was determining what worked well and what didn't (grass, coriander, ginger, parsley).  If you try this, I'd love to see your painting!

Finally, some progress!

I think I would make faster progress if I didn't have to knit, tink, reknit, retink, reknit again the same two or three rows.  I finally worked through the problems and have almost one more lace repeat than you see here.  This is the Nashua Surplice Lace Top that Katie, Keri, and I are knitting.  (I'd link to their blogs, but I'm feeling too tired and frustrated right now.)  I'm using Berroco Touche yarn in Green Tea and it's nice yarn with which to knit.  It's not very splitty and is soft and kind of silky.  I also have part of the back knit, but I may end up frogging it and knitting it differently.

Take a look at this!  Kathy at As Kat Knits recently had a contest encouraging people to guess how much yarn was in her bowl.  My guess was 30 hanks/balls/skeins and that was right!  Kathy sent such a generous contest prize.  All this yarn and Weekend Knitting, too!!!  Thank you so much, Kathy!  I'm glad I've found your blog and I enjoy reading it.  (She just had more inches of snow where she lives.  Brrr!)

Here's something interesting for those of you that paint.  George Washington Carver, the famous botanist, was also a painter.  When he started painting as a boy, he didn't have access to paints, so he figured out how to make his own.  Tomorrow in botany class, we're going to paint with homemade watercolor paints.  I made them today from gum arabic plus chili powder, dill, bits of burnt wood, and ginger.  (I'll include a link later when I have access to my paperwork.)  It was interesting to see what worked and what didn't.

S's parents are coming in tomorrow on their way home from Florida.  I'm still not ready for them, of course!  :)  I hope you all have a terrific weekend!

A song for Easter

Praise Song by Third Day

We praise You O Lord
For the love that You give
And the time that You spent
On this world for our sins
We lift up Your name
In honor and praise
In Jesus we place
All our love and our faith

And we know that You are our Savior
And we know that You are the Son
And we know that You are the Savior
Of everyone

The time is now near
When You will appear
When we see Your face
And Your voice will appear
And then we will sing
To Jesus the King
The Maker
Creator of everything

And we know that You are our Savior
And we know that You are the Son
And we know that You are the Savior
Of everyone

Spring break knitting

We left Atlanta last Sunday with warm temperatures and came back from Florida yesterday to 45 degrees with an overnight low in the 20s.  Brrr!!!  No more capris and sandals for a few days.

We had a nice time in Florida, visiting S's parents.  The temperature was in the 80s, there was a nice breeze, and the humidity was not too high.  We spent time on Manasota Beach, Gasparilla Island, and Sharky's.  The sand was so full of shells on Gasparilla Island, that we ended up "building" with the shells instead:  .  One of our favorite meals was at mi Pueblo Mexican restaurant.  I had shrimp tacos with mango salsa.  Yum!

A vacation wouldn't be complete without some yarn shopping.  There wasn't time to search out yarn stores, so my only yarn purchase was some dishcloth cotton and some charity knitting clearance yarn from the local Craft Depot.  But, I did find these at Goodwill for 99 cents:  .  They look vintage to me, but I'm not sure.  I like them, though.

I was supposed to be knitting away on the Surplice Lace Top, but I had some thinking to do about it after I started the back.  So instead, I started the Forest Canopy Shawl and some more dishcloths.  I'm really enjoying the lace knitting, but I'm not taking any chances with pulling out the lifelines too soon this time!  And after talking with Katie last night, I'm ready to tackle the rest of the top now.  (I'm terrible about putting things off if I'm not sure what to do!)

I hope you all had a good week!