speedy delivery!

Remember that yarn I ordered on Wednesday? Of course you do: it was my previous post. :) Anyway, it arrived today! That sure was quick. And just in time, too, because I was sitting here all out of Tiny Sweater Inspiration. Perhaps new colors will do the trick.

The orange and yellow stuff, while not quite as bright as I would like, is still pretty nice. I think it will work. It'll just have to be a slightly sophisticated baby, not all bright and wild. Well, ok, the orange is still pretty bright. The baby will most likely be able to see it.

AS for the rest of the yarn, this is the first time my monitor has deceived me as to color: there was a red (should have expected this, with red, right?) that looked to be much more of a purple-red on my monitor, but in real life it's pretty straight-up red. Still a red with a blue undertone, so it will not go to waste around here, but something closer to purple would have suited my other colors better. Also not entirely certain of the light blue, but again, it won't go to waste.

The needle I ordered is the tiniest wee cute thing ever. 16-inch 2.25mm needle anyone? Shall we take bets on how quickly I lose it?

Anyway, yay! Now to look for baby sock patterns. I'll probably just do Basic Sock and cute it up with the colors, but you never know.

LATER! Here's the yarn:



The stuff with the labels on is the new yarn: I stuffed the rest of my Palette in the box so I could see how it all looks together. I'm not too keen on the dark green, but I'm sure it'll come in handy somewhere down the road.

shopping!

Just ordered some yellow and orange yarn for the baby items I mentioned a while ago. I just got some stuff from KnitPicks, (ha ha, put that link in to be an enabler) because I figured if I don't like the colors--for a baby, God knows I'll put most oranges and yellows on myself--I at least won't be out too much cash.

Right. Because then of course I also bought a circular needle in a size I need--ok, well cheaper than anything I would find in a real live store around here--and, of course, some yarn for a pair of colorwork mitts I want to do next month. I could have just done some Endpaper Mitts, because, hey, I've got two colors of yarn that would look nice together, but nooo, I want to do something more complicated, such as the Snowflake Fingerless Gloves or a pair of Latvian Fingerless Mitts , and so, of course, some yarn was purchased.

I am rather proud that I at least kept myself from buying any sock yarn or anything. While KnitPicks is not my favorite yarn ever, they do have lots of nice colors, and the Palette yarn becomes pretty soft after it's been soaked a bit.

The next thing I need to acquire--argh, was so trying not to buy!--is some red acrylic. I need--yes, need--to make a pair of patriotic shorts. :)

oh hey

Just remembered that I took some pictures of the loud purple-and-grey sweater I'm sort of making up. Remember that the purple is louder in person!



The yarn is a bamboo/wool/nylon blend, and it's all kinds of soft. I think it's a Deborah Norville brand, of all the hilarious things. It was on sale for $2.50 a skein about a month ago, and I figured that for $15, I could make myself a rather loud sweater. :)



I tried putting in some short rows for bust shaping today, but I have only the most general idea of how that works, so now I have to try it on again and see if I'm anything like right. Which means putting all those tiny little stitches on waste yarn, and then putting them all back on the needle again . . . needless to say, I am not eager. And I have a sneaking suspicion that I did the shaping a bit too high, but oh well. We shall see!

Eventually.

update!

Whew. Right, so I have 8 tiny sweaters left to go! Well, plus the sleeves of today's. Oof. I have loved the tiny sweaters--most of the time--but I will not miss them.

I have also been working on the purple and grey sweater which I mentioned a while back. It's taking a good long while, because it's sock yarn on 3mm needles, but I think it'll be worth it! I don't know what else I would have done with this much slightly loud yarn. Well, it would have made a hell of a pair of shorts. Anyway, I'm all excited, because I've just finished the yoke (basic top-down raglan action) and when I tried it on, it fit pretty much perfectly. I do have to enter the more-or-less unknown world of shaping to make enough room for my bosoms, but hey, it's good to learn something new.

My hat is still flower-less. I should probably just sew some leaves and buttons on it and be done.

I've been wearing my Aeolian shawl around the house a lot this week, and I'm starting to feel more shawl wishes . . . perhaps for something in a heavier yarn?

And possibly, just possibly, there will be some utterly ridiculous shorts knit during the Olympics. Brace yourselves.

frustrating!

Because I am not ashamed to wear a hat similar to a three-year-old's, I am attempting to make myself a brown hat with some leaves and stuff and a cream flower. The hat part has been finished for a couple of weeks now, and I've got some leaves, but the flower is kicking my butt. I have a picture in my head of how I want it to look, and it won't do what it's supposed to.

Grrrr. Maybe if I felt/shrink the latest one I've made . . . argh. I'm going to have all these random rejected cream flowers around--then I'll have to make something to stick them on! Aiee!

In Tiny Sweater News, I made a Tiny Cardigan today. It's cute but not amazing. The ones with embroidery are definitely the best, but they usually take the longest. Typical.

another hat!

For me this time.



I love this pattern madly. It's the Square Circle Hat, and I've been wanting to make one for AGES--ok, a couple of months--but I had to wait until after Christmas. Now I kind of want to make more. This hat makes me feel all modern and stylish, which doesn't happen all that often. :)

It's just in your basic Patons wool, but I held a strand of random formerly-a-Gap-sweater grey yarn with it, because I thought the purple was too plain. The effect is really nice! I wish I'd been able to find my size 7 needles to knit the main part of the hat, but I couldn't, so it's all on sixes. Anyway, I'm very fond of it. There's a strong chance I will make more in the future. Possibly for me. Because we all know I am wasting away for lack of hats.

more tiny sweaters!

A selection of the tiny sweaters I've been knitting:


This first one was done in 36 gauge craft wire, and was much less of a pain in the rear than you would think.



Batman? Total pain in the rear. Total. It's pretty cute, though! And not quite 3 inches tall, for those of you who care about such things.



This little guy is made of yarn from two recycled sweaters, one of which I took apart during the last two games of the Stanley Cup Finals. Believe me, ripping things to bits really helps with the stress of an important sporting event! (For those of you who care, this one's about 1 3/4 inches tall.)



Awwww. So cuuuuute.

Hat!

I finally finished this, a ginormous hat for my mom's ginormous head. I have it pulled down over my glasses in this picture. I don't think she could get it over her eyes if she tried. I really, really need to go at her with a tape measure and see how big around her head is. :)



I think it turned out quite well! The yarn is recycled from a scarf and hat I made her four or so years ago. It was the first nice yarn I'd ever bought! Perhaps even the first yarn I'd bought, since everything else I'd been knitting with was random stuff that had been around the house since I was a kid. The original hat and scarf were also made before I knew her head was huge. And she doesn't wear scarves, so I cannibalized part of that.

Anyway, it looks very nice on her, and now her head can be warm and look cute.

this is how clever I am.

I had an audition this morning, so last night I was very sensible and packed up all the stuff I was going to take with me, including some knitting for when I was waiting. I put in all the stuff I'd need, the needles, scissors, some waste yarn, yarn needles . . . and I forgot to put in the actual ball of yarn itself. You know, the STUFF YOU ACTUALLY KNIT WITH.

I felt like such a dolt.

Sigh.

And I was bored while I waited.

can't say no to baby brother!

So normally I don't knit stuff when people ask me to--I have tons of stuff I want to knit, dammit!--but every so often someone in my immediate family will ask for something, and I really can't say no to them. You may remember the Devil Scarf I was knitting last summer? Yeah. Like that.

My new mission is much, much easier. My little brother's supervisor is due in March, and little bro has asked me to knit a baby item. He mentioned that "booties might be the cutest thing." I kid you not. So really, no problem, because A) booties go at the speed of light, and B) the supervisor apparently is very fond of orange and yellow. What? An excuse to buy orange yarn? When booties will use very little of it, so there might also be orange wristies for me? Don't mind if I do. :)

Ok, there will probably be a hat to go with the booties. Or two pair of baby foot-coverings, because babies grow so fast. Perhaps one pair for cold newborn spring, and then another pair for cold 10-month-old winter?

I'll have to ask him when he'd actually like to give her the item, because, blargh, I'm superstitious about very few things, but I always feel uneasy making items for someone who's not born yet. Like I'm tempting fate. Which is kinda stupid, but you can blame my mom, my grandmas, and all my aunts for this attitude. We all feel a little bit nervous when we have to go to baby showers.

Anyway! Orange or yellow yarn! I'm excited! I would like to buy it in person, because there's such a fine line between pretty orange and scary orange, but I've done quite a bit of online stalking, so if I have to go that route, I am ready. :)

tiny sweater, in natural habitat.

In case you were wondering how the Tiny Sweater Project is going:



I took that picture about half an hour ago and I'm still cold. This is what I get for thinking, "Oh, I'll just dart outside, it'll be ok . . ." I had my big fuzzy hat on, but still. BRRRRR.

This is Tiny Sweater Number Six. I can't even comprehend what 31 of them all together will look like. Probably terminally cute. :)

stuff I am knitting:

1. Lots and lots of tiny sweaters. Oooog. They're cute, though!

2. A pair of socks. For me! I really should go get that heel done. It's cold here. I could use a new pair of socks.

3. A brown hat. On which I will eventually slap a flower and some greenery.

4. A purple-and-grey sweater, though that has kind of been chucked to the back of the pile in favor of the tiny sweaters.

And I've started piano lessons up again, and you wouldn't believe how tired my hands are. However, at the end of this month I should be able to crush a steel girder with my bare paws. :) Well, if I could get them around a steel girder. I have wee tiny hands.