Reduce, Reuse...

Recycle.

I had a silk satin needle case once. After using it for awhile, I realised that it didn't work particularly well - the needles kept falling out. While I'd like to attribute that to the fact that satin is slippery as hell, I figure that the design probably wasn't quite optimal either. However, I love love LOVE the fabric. And after window shopping for a knitting project bag (fuelled by envy of the beautiful Lantern Moon bags), I took an hour out of my day and made this.


You can still see some of the holes that scar the fabric from its previous incarnation...but overall, I'm quite pleased. And it seems that karma's trying to get me into the mood for a little bit of slink and a little splash of shimmy...


My pre-order of Knitting Lingerie Style came on Friday. It's actually a wonderful book, filled with far more wearable items than you might think, judging from the title. And this is the first knitting book that I have ever seen Mr. Ninja pick up and browse...of his own volition. While he's been dropping some not so subtle hints, I am sticking to my guns and working away on my Sockapalooza pal's socks.


Hedera. In Natural Dye Studios - Silver Bud colourway. The stitch definition created by this yarn is incredible. Must. Have. Own. Socks.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, here I come!

So...I couldn't really let myself start another project (Sockapalooza socks) while I still had another pair of socks on the go. So I sat myself down with a bottle of Bailey's, a marathon session of Gil Grissom frowning at various corpses, and my handspun socks. Done like dinner.


They're squishy, slippery and thick. Perfect for the cold front that's just settled in. Totally mismatched, but I actually dig it. One of the socks is larger than the other - my tension was apparently affected by all the swooning that I did during the CSI season 3 DVD (Gawd, the men on that show are HOT) I'd like to say that the first sock was stretched by Henry's sojourn inside it...but I have to fess up that I think that my ankles are thicker than Henry's entire body. And since I only used the smaller of the two skeins for this pair, I still have enough to make another set of socks!


I wonder if I'll get another pair of mismatched socks - and therefore maybe possibly get 2 pairs of matching socks. What? It could happen.

ETA: Apparently...Bailey's + knitting = totally spaced out knitter. I just realized while looking at the photo of the socks together that I'm going to HAVE to knit another pair of socks. During the time between the two socks, I totally forgot that I did a mistake rib pattern on the first sock...and did the second sock in just a plain 3x1 rib. Man...I blow such huge chunks sometimes. >_<

In other crafty news, my package from Superbuzzy arrived!


I'm not too sure that I like the punch embroidery thingy...it sort of feels like cheating somehow. But the sheep clips are awesome for keeping track of where I am on a chart - well, I'm anticipating that they will be - and the car magnets make Mr. Munchkin very happy. So, now I've cast on for my Sockapalooza pal...let's see if CSI can weave some knitting mojo for me again.

Long Live Optimus Prime!

Well, technically - they killed him off in the series ... but his memory lives on. After seeing Geekzilla's awesome Decepticon mittens, I was inspired to whip up an Autobots chart. However, the only problem is that Excel (which is where I do the charting) doesn't let me put in right pointing slashes. *sigh* So, I substituted the right pointed slashes with the vertical lines. Use your imaginations, kiddoes.

As for the pattern itself, if you're doing it in intarsia, just knit the X's, and put the slashes in afterwards with duplicate stitch. And if you're doing it all in duplicate stitch, you're laughing. Me, I'm thinking that I need some Transformer socks. Eventually. And the beast? Mr. Ninja is getting a vest for his birthday. I'm not even halfway through the first sleeve. Stockinette fatigue is starting to set in. Grrrr.

Soaker Stuff

I've been getting a lot of hits lately from people looking for information on knitted soakers for cloth diapered babies. (Stop reading now, Geekzilla.) Thanks for the shoutout, Stacey! It's been awhile since I knit a soaker (Mr. Munchkin's been potty trained for awhile) but I'll try to recap the lessons that I learned when knitting soakers long ago.

Yarn - Choose a mostly or all wool yarn that will knit into a dense fabric. Worsted weight is fantastic as it knits up relatively quickly, and still provides the thickness needed. Preferably a yarn that is very soft to the touch, as it will be rubbing against your baby's tender skin. Definitely NOT superwash. (The superwash treatment basically nullifies the lanolinization that soaker has to go through to be effectively "waterproof".)

My personal favourites for soaker knitting included Malabrigo and 100PureWool. 100PureWool is the same quality as Malabrigo - possibly a touch thinner - but MUCH cheaper than Malabrigo. But I've knit soakers out of Noro (scratchy as hell), Cascade (nice, if a bit limp), and Manos del Uruguay (ungh, very bumpy) ...whatever works for the pattern, your baby and you. If pilliness is an issue for you - get a 2 ply as opposed to a single ply like the malabrigo.

Pattern - There are several patterns available online, such as the Curly Purly soaker, Fern and Faerie soaker, and the Down Under soaker. I have knit the Punk Knitter's Soaker and the Perfection Pants soaker...but by far and away, my favourite pattern was the Hybrid Rib Wrap from Little Turtle Knits. It was trim under clothes, very effective and just plain purty. Most of the soakers I knit were the hybrid rib, as it worked the best for us. Easy on, easy off and it holds its shape reeeeally nicely over time, unlike most of the others.

Washing and Care - Soakers need to be lanolized before they're initially worn. Two ways to do this:

Old School - Take some pure lanolin (you can buy tubes in the drugstore) and a small jar. A baby food jar works well for this. Fill the jar with the hottest water you can stand. Squeeze a pea-sized amount of lanolin into the jar, along with a small squirt of dishsoap. (The dishsoap is to suspend the dissolved lanolin in the water.) Close the lid, and shake the jar until the lanolin is more or less dissolved...you definitely don't want lanolin lumps. Add the concoction to a basin of tepid water, and swoosh it around to mix it all up. Put your soakers into the basin, and let soak for an hour or so. After that time is up, get the water out of the soakers - dealer's choice on either using the towel method or tossing them into the washer for a quick spin - and lay flat to dry. They're ready to use now.

New School - Use a lanolin spray like the ones from Naturally Luxe. Spray it onto a clean soaker, rub in, you're done.

Soakers need to be re-lanolized every once in awhile to maintain their effectiveness...but you can prolong the time between lanolizations (is that a word?) by using a nice wool wash, some of which are specifically designed for wool soakers with extra lanolin added. I like Eucalan, the wool soap bars from stores like Baby Blossoms, and the Organic Wool Wash from Naturally Luxe.

Just as an FYI - if you are prone to skin conditions like eczema, lanolin can trigger flare-ups. I have this problem, so I always wore rubber gloves when lanolizing Mr. Munchkin's soakers.

So...I can't remember anything else important about knitted soakers. (Short term memory loss FTL!) If there's anyone out there reading this that has questions, I'd be happy to answer them if I can. I would post pics of the soakers that I've knit, but I've loaned them all to a friend who's using them on her baby. That's the other advantage of cloth diapering - you can share the cuteness of a big ole squishy baby butt!

Bjork.

As mentioned last night on the way back from KOL.

Apparently, Bjork used to knit - and gauging from the outfit in the photo here, has quite the mad love affair with crochet. I love her so very very very much. Especially when she talks about the visual nature of music.


Click on the picture to read the story...

Damn, I need a bigger house.

So, as some of you know - my Mum used to own a yarn store back in the day. When she sold the business, she kept the yarn. As a result, I grew up in a house that had 3 or so yarn closets. Meaning that if you opened the door to said closets, you could end up bonked on the head by a bag or three of ribbon yarn. And the ribbons, oy. Mr. Ninja and I nearly got a divorce when he saw the "two or three" boxes of stuff that my Mum put on the moving truck...it was 6 large boxes of ribbons, and a massive chest of embroidery thread. Needless to say, the tendency to packrat runs strong in my family.

When Mum came up to visit a few weeks ago, she brought me some of the remaining fancy yarns.

Looks innocuous, yes?

I can't work with any of it. >_< It's all mohair or mohair blends. And uh ... the colours are very ... retro. I don't think that I have enough irony left in my body to sport a fuzzy, green and purple mohair sweater with any flair. Motherhood seems to have drained any insouciance that I could have used to pull that off. But some of it is just lovely. Anyone? Willing to sell this stuff fairly cheap - but only to a good home. No giving the skeins to the felines as cat toys...

In other news, I have my Sockapalooza pal! As she likes natural fabrics and lace...I'm set. Am thinking of either knitting her Baudelaire or Hedera. I don't think that my Cookie A. patterns will be arriving from the co-op in time, unfortunately. Of course...I still have the beast to complete. Only two inches left on the back of the sweater, and then it's off to the races on the sleeves! I am so close to finishing, I can smell it. Or that's possibly the brownies in the oven. Either one works for me.