Surprise! It's a baby (jacket).

I've moved on to multiple projects at the same time. Which really amounts to me concentrating on the one that is easiest and more enjoyable to knit.

Right now, most of my attention is going to Elizabeth Zimmermann's baby surprise jacket. Her directions are not bad, but not really super drawn out, which is kind of important for me. I'm still really a novice knitter, so I need things to be as obvious as possible. It is fantastic because it's all knit, so it goes pretty fast. I can do about 3-4 rows on each leg of the subway ride to/from work, and then I invariably work on it a bit in the evening while watching tv or playing video games. I'm doing it in Knitpicks Merino Style yarn in Tide Pool, Asparagus, and Storm. The plan is to vary the colors throughout. Next time, I'd love to try it with a variegated yarn. The one on the helloyarn.com blog done like that is very cute.

I found a cheat sheet for the jacket, which is helping my progress a lot. I'm also trying to do it to be about 5-6st = 1" range, so the jacket is on the bigger size. He is only a month old now, and it's going to be at least another 2 months before the weather is conducive to wearing wool. I know nothing about baby sizing, but according to this, it will work out to about a 15-18" chest diameter. What that means in size of clothing, I can only guess, but I vaguely recall something around 6-8 months? Even if it's on the big size, it is still better than too small--they grow fast, them baby things. And 6-8 months should be right around the middle of winter.

Hopefully I'll have it finished before I see the recipients again. Well, that's probably not too hard, since they live 250 miles away, and I don't have any plans to go up there any time soon. The nice thing about small projects like that, is they are fairly fast to knit. And the way everyone I know is getting married and knocked up lately, I'm sure I'll have the opportunity to make a few of these before long.

And in the Way Overdue section, I finally got some glitter vinyl to make my neice's birthday (3 weeks ago) present. The pieces are HUGE, which is nice, and it's super shiny & pretty. The price was wonderful too (most people sell it upwards of $17-22/yd), and they shipped it (quickly) on a roll, instead of folded, so it's not got any creases or wrinkles. Yes, they call it Sparkel, which I was quick to correct, but evidently that's how the manufacturer wants it spelled. Go figure. I got a yard each of the hot pink & silver (which is more like white with silver glitter), and a sample of the purple & kiwi (which hopefully are enough to make some cute shapes).

I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to make--a tote or bowling-ball bag of some sort I suppose. I ordered some (a bit overpriced) tubular frames from Ghee's to give it a bit of structure, but I didn't think of that until yesterday, so it may be a while until I get started. There are sellers on Etsy called Hippofabulous and also Stitchpixie. They make very amazing stuff out of vinyl. I love the whimsical and cute designs they do, so hopefully some of that talent and inspiration gets to work on my brain, so that I can make some crazy original design for my neice.

I have kind of a low-end sewing machine, and no teflon foot for it, so I'm sure sewing two layers of thick vinyl will be quite the adventure. I hope it doesn't blow up. I guess if it does, it'll be a good excuse to get the same Brother sewing machine my siblings and I got for my mom on her last birthday. Which she hates because it's too newfangled, not understanding that ALL machines are like that now. *sigh* The reviews for it are pretty fantastic. A friend also recommended the Euro-Pro, which also looks like it has good reviews. Really, I'd love a Bernina, but I can't really justify dropping $1000+ on a sewing machine, since I don't sew a tremendous amount.

The frogination

Almost done with the first sock. It seems to have gone slowly, but I was only knitting on the subway ride to and from work. I've turned the heel and everything—which wasn't scary at all, in fact it was pretty easy. Whew.

However, the set of circular bamboo needles I'm working with are giving me huge problems. At size 0, they are a bit *too* flexible. I've broken the same needle on one of the pairs TWICE, so I'm left with a 2-inch stump. The other pair of size 0 circulars now has a split forming in one of the needles. I will say, though, that 2 circular needles are the way to go. 2 is more awesomer than 4.

I'm not very happy with the way it's turning out. It looks ok, but not as good as I'd like it. I think the Magic Stripes yarn is just a tad bit too bulky for this pattern, even on tiny needles. I'm going to redo this pattern later, but with a finer/softer wool. I've got a nice stash of some merino sock wool from Stick Chick, and a few small skeins of sale sock yarn from KnitPicks on their way to me which I think will work a lot more nicely.

...Frogged! (It didn't help that a bunch of stitches fell off the needle at some point as well. D'oh).

This yarn is being rewound into a ball. I think at some point I will use it to make socks, but with a very plain pattern. I just don't think the thickness and stiffness of this particular yarn holds up to delicate and/or lacy designs.

I went a little yarn crazy today. I have some (hopefully real) alpaca yarn coming from eBay to do the Alexander McQueen knock off sweater (which I keep calling STEVE McQueen. heh); some midnight blue fingerling alpaca yarn by Yarn Treehouse to make a Clapotis for my mom's xmas present; some purple, black, and clematis heathered knitpicks Palette yarn to make 2 pairs of Endpaper Mitts for various people; some knitpicks Merino Style yarn in 2 blues and a green to make the Baby Surprise jacket for my boyfriend's ex-landlords who just had a baby; and some new circular knitting needles (IN METAL) to replace the ones I just broke (and the others I will likely break soon).

I took an entrelac knitting class this past weekend—one of the local fabric stores offers knitting classes (yet doesn't sell yarn...). It makes a lot more sense now. It is still really complicated, but at least I understand the underlying construction technique. I'll finally be able to make that Danica scarf after all. After those 59392 things on my "to knit" list. Heh.

Sock-a-go-go

I've made quite a bit of progress on my first sock (considering I've only really been knitting on the subway). However, I really think the Magic Stripes yarn is too thick for this particular pattern and/or the needles are too big. I don't want to have to frog it, but it's looking too big and lumpy. I don't know if going down to size 1 needles will make much difference, but I may give that a try. I just really like this pattern. On the upside, there is a bit of a mistake on the cuff, which is bothering me almost enough to frog it for that reason.

Of course I could just do the pattern that came with the sock. But that's so plain. Heh.

I have also just found some cheap sock yarn on etsy. It's undyed, so I can finally use some of the 2057 packets of koolaid that I have stocked up to make some obnoxious pink-orange socks.

Of socks and soap

Whoa. Socks aren't too bad. Of course I've only done about an inch of ribbing, but the small circumference thing isn't as frustrating as I thought it would be. I'm sure when I get to the heel, it'll be a different story.

The twisted rib was a little awkward at first, but it's fast going now. I cannot wait to start the actual pattern. heh.

The pattern is called Bellatrix. I'm sure the socks will be full of subservient evil.

I tried the silk soap, only using the hot-process method instead of my normal cold-process. While the method itself was not as hard as I thought, it produced a sticky weird soap that is too goopy and sticky to come out of the molds. Maybe I'll try freezing it...

I have made a few bathbombs which came out pretty well. I think the trick is to use almost no water. Even then it's hard to form all the individual bombs before the ingredients dry out, which is difficult to re-wet, as it tends to mess up the texture. I guess I just make smaller batches or bigger bombs. Duh.

Oops

I have neglected to update in months. For shame!

I am doing about 8398 projects right now for a swap, so I'll have some pictures soon. In the mix: a hand-painted wooden box, a clock! with brains!, soap/bath bombs, 2 pairs of earrings, a necklace, and if I get around to it, a small tote-bag, an etched mirror, embroidered pillow cases, candles, and/or wax tarts. And that's just for one person. I have someone else who is totally overdue for one of my care packages.

For my niece's birthday, I need to track down some hot pink glitter vinyl so I can make her another purse or some sort of wallet or tote. I made her this one (on the right) for Christmas, and she uses it constantly. I'm happy to see that it has held up to 7 months of constant use! I think the vinyl will be cute and hold up even better. I'm kind of afraid to see what it will do to my sewing machine—I don't have a Teflon foot to make my life easier, and it's not a really professional machine. Maybe I'll commandeer my mom's nice Brother machine. My brother & sisters and I got it for her birthday in January, and she's too intimidated by it to actually use it. Ho hum.

I haven't knit anything for myself in a long time. I am hoping to FINALLY start the pair of socks that have been on my to-do list for months. I guess it will be easier when I don't have these other things that have to be done in the next two weeks (there is a swap deadline to contend with). Plus, once Harry Potter 7 comes out, I will be out of commission for another day or two. ;)

On the soap front, I'm going to try a new recipe, using raw Tussah Noil fibers. I am really anxious to try this out! I got a new 3-pound wooden soap mold, but wow. 3 pounds. I generally make 1-pound batches, and I have to give it away to everyone I see to get rid of the surplus. I guess once I get a scent I truly love, 3-pounds won't be too bad.

With bath bombs, i'm trying to get the dry-to-wet ratio perfected, which is a lot harder than I ever thought. Just a tiny bit too much water, and they tend to develop cracks or look like they have been deflated. Once I have that down, i am going to try my hand at foaming/bubble bombs.

i've kind of gone off the deep end with ordering scents. i need to make a lot of tarts, candles, soap, bath bombs, hair/body sprays to kind of justify owning that many tiny bottles of stink.

11 am and still no coffee. This must be rectified immediately.

More soap

batch 7 - rosemary mint

Batch 7 unmolded & cut into bars. The swirl effect was really not as good as I thought it would be. I really thought I was overdoing it, and that the colors would just blend together. Clearly, I need a bit more wrist action. I also embedded some rosemary into the top of the bars.

The rosemary mint scent is really nice. i wonder if it will be COLD in the shower.

Batch 8: underway. Blue & purple swirl lavender scent with lavender flowers.

Soap frenzy!

Batches 4-5-6!

I'm in a swap right now, so I use this as a chance to do lots of crafty stuff. Saturday night, I made 3 more batches of soap using lime-lilac, cantelope, & honey scents. Sunday night, I made an additional batch, using a dupe of Aveda's rosemary-mint scent. All the bars I made this weekend had more coconut oil than my previous batches, and the addition of palm oil, to make them a little harder than my last 3 soaps. I didn't really sacrifice much in the way of conditioning either, which was good.

The Lime-Lilac used (in rank of highest percentage to lowest) coconut, soybean, palm, rice bran, and castor; Cantelope was olive, coconut, palm, castor (this should be a super-moisturizing bar); Honey was coconut, palm, soybean, apricot kernal, and castor; and the rosemary-mint was palm, coconut, olive, grapeseed, and castor. They all smelled SO GOOD, it's going to be a long 3-4 week wait until they are dry enough to use.

I finally had one person get back to me about the soap (my first batch) after giving away bars to about 6 or 7 people. She said it was very moisturizing and smelled good. I hate soaps that make your skin feel tight & dried out, so I'm very happy that someone commented on the performance, and that it was positive! I eventually want to sell these, so I want to know that they don't suck. ;)

I invested in a lot of new scents and a few new oils, so I will probably pump out several batches until I've used up the 5lb. bags of palm & coconut oils. They are so fast to make, that I can probably finish everything off by the end of the week! Not that I'm necessarily going to make another 5-10 batches of soap this week, BUT I COULD. I am also sorely tempted to make soap out of Crisco, just for my own amusement. I eventually want to

get some hemp and other fancy oils, but they are fairly expensive, so they may have to wait until I make a few dollars from this soapy enterprise.

I also am planning on making some sugar-scrubs for the shower, making lip balms (tinted & flavored!), solid perfumes, and perfumed body lotion-spray. Yes, I am a fiend. But I and all of my recipients will be moisturized and smell very nice!

On the knitting front, I've made it through a lot of my Tubey sweater. I think I have another 6-8" or so, and I should be done! The pattern called for 10 skeins of yarn, but I don't think I've used more than 4 so far. I don't think my gauge is that off--I did swatch a bit before I started; I've also tried on the shrug part which fit perfectly. I did decide to knit a size down (the XS), just because it's so stretchy, and I want a close-fitting top. Progress is a little slow, but I hope to be done before it's too warm to wear a wool-blend sweater.

ETA: Wow, I am the dumb. The yarn used in the pattern was 100yd/skein. Mine is 197yds/skein. Hah. I'm obviously a math genius!

Man, I hope those stripes line up that well when I put it on.

I also did a massive amount of screen printing about a two weeks ago. I volunteered to do my friends' wedding invitations (sucker!) ages ago, and the date is quickly approaching. I ended up having to do a combination of screen printing & gocco. Since I couldn't hold any of the text with traditional screen printing, even with the fine mesh count screens (so disappointing), I had to resort to using my precious gocco. I'm so paranoid about the dwindling supply of available gocco products since its discontinuation, that I'm almost afraid to use it. Heh. The end results did turn out pretty nicely though; everyone seemed to really like them.

The background stuff (mostly some Indian designs) was printed with a pale greenish-yellow on the RSVP cards, and a pale yellow, just a few shades lighter than the paper, on the actual invitations. The paper was Stardream "Opal"--a really pretty shimmery white gold color.

The only problem I really had was that I ran out of the water-soluable screen printing ink that I had ordered online a few weeks prior. My local art supply store

only had acrylic screen printing ink, which tends to not dry as matte, and feels a little "sticky" in comparison. It wasn't that big a deal, but I really preferred the finish from the water-soluable ink.

Once all the background inks were printed & dried, I used my gocco to print the actual text onto the cards in a green ink, which of course I don't have a picture of right now (because I was so exhausted at the time, I only managed to take 2 or 3 in-progress pictures). I did well over 110 invites and rsvp cards, printed on both sides, plus almost 200 envelopes as well... in about 1.5 days. Holy crap, my back.

Other projects on the horizon: Finally sewing the shirt that has been on my progress list for months (I guess buying fabric for it would be a good start), finish a mermaid-themed necklace that I started about a year (!) ago, sew a mini-tote bag or two with matching zippered bags, and do some t-shirt screen printing (once I can think of a funny-nerdy-cool design!).

AND I just remembered that I have about 3 boxes of conversation hearts from Valentine's Day (leftovers that I stole from work) that I'm planning on casting in resin... if and when I can find a mold, and someplace with enough ventilation to do it. I'd really like to make a giant belt buckle with them. They may end up as charms for a bracelet, though. I'm the tackiest!

I guess I like to keep busy.