As The Kittens Grow

At 4 weeks old: I was so worried that Xena was going to harm the kittens and I couldn't have been more wrong. She practically adopted them as her own, or thought she was one of them, I'm not sure which but she was constantly with them along with their mommy. She's been a perfect Auntie Xena and Stimpy is the best momma kittie I've ever had.

At 5 weeks they've managed to climb out of the basket and have discovered the yarn, and wrestling. They were so clumsy and so cute and have so much fun together.

At 7 weeks: They have discovered climbing around the furniture. That's my doublebed knitting machine under the cover, my Knittin Kittens :)

All that rambunciousness takes a heavy toll, naps are taken often throughout the day.

Auntie Xena and Sunday, he's 9 weeks in this shot.

Taken tonight, my little cat family. The babies will be 10 weeks old this weekend and if I don't take them to find new homes now I'm going to miss my "ooohh aren't they soo cute and little!" window and my hubby will not be pleased if that happens. 5 cats is just too much for him to take, but me? I'd love to keep them all :)

Don't they look so content and happy? I need to get a better shot of Saturday's face, it's orange and white striped on one side and brown and white striped on the other other side. Two Face would be a good name for her :)

Kitty Grandma

No lack of drama here! Stimpy snuck this one in, she never showed any signs of being in heat and there were none of the tell-tale male cat fights at night either. She just snuck out, went next door where there are a couple of boys one afternoon and here is the end result. Please, spare me the lectures, I've heard them all :)

Anyway, to continue the drama, she went into labor Saturday afternoon and #1 was born around 10:30 pm (the calico with the light grey body and black head). #2 was born about 6 or so hours later on Sunday (orange tabby, the only boy). I knew there was still at least one more baby in there, but all day Sunday went by, I looked it up online and was advised by several websites that it's known to take this long but I should take her to the Vet. I decided that since she didn't show any signs of being in any kind of distress or discomfort, if the baby didn't come before the end of business on Monday, I would take her. Thank goodness Stimpy decided to save me that bill and #3, a darker calico, arrived Monday afternoon. Whew! Talk about cutting it close :) All are doing great. She decided to deliver in my bed, I'm hoping to save my white comfortor and white and pink sheets, but I found some great stain removing formulas to try. Besides, the sheets are old and isn't that why the make Duvet's? I'm just happy to have babies in the house again.

Xena isn't being threatening but I still don't trust her so I'm keeping them in different rooms. It was rather noisey the first couple of nights, Xena is the queen bee and believes the whole world revolves around her so she's a bit confused at being locked into the back bedroom. Oh well, she'll get over it. I did introduce her this morning and she behaved, but I still just don't trust her. Stimpy thought it was great to be able show off her brood to her evil sister. But she's such a nice kitty and Xena is, well, Xena :)

Packrat Advantage!

I've come to a kind of odd conclusion. It's better to be a packrat. I am going to stop agonizing over my obsessive compulsive inability to throw anything away and embrace it. I have started a list of some pretty good reasons too.

1. I almost always have what I need for a project, even if it takes a while to find it all.


2. I don't have to hurt anyones feelings by not keeping a gift that they gave me.


3. If it's something that I'm not going to use very often, I can put it in a storage space and then get it when I want it.


4. I get to take advantage of any opportunity that presents itself (i.e. a kiln at a garage sale for under a $100!!!) When I want to learn to throw pots, I'll be all set but for the clay (yes, the wheel has been in the back of the garage for years now)


5. I can live totally by my whims.


6. I don't have to make agonizing "decisions" about what I want to keep and what I don't want to keep. I get to keep it all!!!

Shame On Me!

I've had so much change the last few months, I just realized that I hadn't posted anything to my blog since January! Shame on me!

Most of you are aware that E.J. and I are in the middle of a lifestyle change. But, to sum it up, when construction came to an abrupt dead stop here in Kingman, AZ, so did his landscape job. His boss, bless her heart, really worked hard to expand the landscape business into more private homes as opposed to new construction, but with the recession starting into full swing, he was laid off last May (or was it early June?). He began the excruciatingly difficult job search process and drawing unemployment ( a real joke here in Arizona, I couldn't believe how little the employee earned insurance payments are here compared to California).

Anyway, his father suffered a complication from his cancer surgery and on a Thursday in August 2008, E.J. took an emergency flight to San Francisco (maybe it was the Oakland airport, can't remember now) and hopped on BART to Concord, expecting to stay about a week or so, but after he saw his dad in the hospital, he just knew what he had to do. He picked up a newspaper to see what kind of work was around, faxed his resume to a company on Friday, had an interview on Tuesday and he started work the following Monday. Wow!! Was that fast or what! Mr. "I Hate California!" Mr. "Curse The Day My Family Forced Me To Leave Michigan", calls me up and says to me "I hate to admit it, but I am home." Turns out that he really does love California after all, it's the mountains and the snow he hates, not the San Francisco East Bay Area. Concord/Pittsburg to be more precise which is actually more at the mouth of the delta into the San Francisco Bay, the Carquinez Strait etc. as it is on the east bay, but mappers consider Contra Costa County as East Bay Area, so who am I to argue LOL!!!

So the new "Do Over" began. We've been living apart since then for a few reasons.

1. I'm too fat to heave myself up and down the stairs of the 2 bedroom townhouse they are living in.
2. The only bathroom is up those stairs.
3. We have 4 dogs and 2 cats that are not allowed to be in the complex.

Number 3 is the biggie. We could turn the two bedrooms upstairs into a little dorm room type kitchen and I would only have to go up and down the stairs when I needed to go out someplace, so there is a work around for that one, but our "children" Augie, Scooby, Nellie, Ren, Stimpy and Xena need a place to live too. Rent is over 1500 dollars a month in that area and that's just not acceptable. The upside to this recession and property crisis is the number of foreclosed homes for sale on the market. We've looked at about 15 homes in our price range, have currently made 5 offers, 2 were outbid on, 3 are "waiting to see if they get something better" and we are still looking. We just need to be patient.

I was driving back and forth to visit my beloved hubby, but another little kink in the rope. My son and his lady friend had been living here with me which made it possible to take off for a few weeks at a time. They took care of the "kids" for me. Well, Stephanie's father is in his mid 70's too and he took a sudden turn for the worse and begged them to come back to Florida. They packed up the Jeep and off they went. I'm very proud of them for loving their families enough to take care of them when needed. Chris sure helped us out while he was here and Stephanie washed dishes! Anyone that knows me, knows how valuable that made her to me LOL!! She's a lovely woman too, I really enjoyed getting to know her and reuniting with my son. He had been in Florida for about 4 years. Now he's helping another family that needs him. I'm so happy he has those kind of values. Both my children grew up with some extreme emotional disadvantages but have overcome them (or are continuously working with them) to become wonderful people in their own rights. I'm very proud of both :)

So, just in case you were wondering. There it is LOL!! More information than you ever wanted to waste your time on. In the meantime, I have reclaimed my home, I have knitting machines in every room but the bathroom and kitchen. Hmmm.... I do have a mini Bond machine I could hang on the wall next to the toilet LOL!! Nah, I'll stick to the dpn's and sock knitting for that space. Hows that for an addict!!

Selene and Great Grandma

And this is what it's all about! My mother and my granddaughter, this is love :) Yes I knit the blanket :)

Happy New Year!

Just when you think that the younger generation and their children don't understand how wonderful life can be and how sharing love with each other can be super terrific, little kids in the neighborhood go out into the street at midnight on New Years Eve and bang pots and pans screaming Happy New Year!!! Just the exact same way you did back in the 50's! Life is a truely wonderful thing, there is hope after all for our future and it lies in the hearts and souls of our children.

Happy New Year to one and all!!!

Top Loader vs Front Loader Felting

On some of the list groups the subject of felting methods comes up from time to time and among these is the debate about front loading washing machines and top loading washing machines for the felting process. I have seen all over the internet that front loaders can't felt. I have seen some felting done in front loading machines and there was still stitch definition so I attributed that to the lack of agitation in the front loaders. I am saying all this because I now have proof that I was wrong when I believed that miss information. Here is a picture that shows it.

The red boots felted perfectly in a very nice, very fancy (yes, I want one now) front loader.

The pattern is the hand knit Fiber Trends Alpine Boot Slipper pattern and although the pink furry boots look red, they are actually hot pink with light pink fun fur. The furry ones are the high top version and were felted in my top loader, the red are the low top version, knit for my grandson who was with his mother this holiday so we won't know if they fit him or not yet. I hope he likes them because....

My Granddaughter LOVES them :)

My Holiday Wish

With a deep respect for all faith's and cultures,
Out of love for all humanity, regardless of beliefs and practices,
May the traditions and celebrations that you hold dear,
Be filled with the gifts of peace and joy that sharing our lives with others brings us,
And that those around you are treated with respect and tolerance during this very magical time of year.

Seasons Greetings and Happy Happy Holidays!

Love,
E.J. & Clarisse

>^..^<

Fan and Feather Layette

This layette is all hand knit. The Feather and Fan pattern stitch can be done on the machine, but it's kind of tedius and sometimes, just because you can, doesn't mean you should and I opted to hand knit the little baby afghan/nursing shawl.

This is Bernat Softee Baby sport weight in Bunny Print. First I attempted a Baby Surprise Jacket with it from a test pattern, but the numbers were off and it was lopsided so it got ripped out, then I did the All In One, too blah and I ripped it out again. I wanted something a little lacy so I decided to try the feather and fan for the bottom part with the intention of putting it on the LK140 to do the top and sleeves. Well, I decided I didn't like the plain stockinette with it, it needed to be a garter stitch since the rows between the lace are garter stitch so off it came again, ripped out the machine part and I ended up hand knitting the whole thing. I think that's got to be a first for me, I converted a machine knitting pattern to hand knit LOL!! Usually it's the other way around, going from a hand knit pattern to the machine. Just goes to show how versatile it all can be :)

The booties are a free pattern I found online and I must say, I think I really like it. It was fast and fun to knit up and when I find the url again, I'll be sure to post it and I think I want to do some kind of a little bonnet. If I hurry, my granddaughter will actually get to wear it before she grows out of it LOL!!




This is a little crochet dress from a free pattern online. It was supposed to fit a newborn to 3 month old. It fits my 15 inch Betsy Wetsy doll perfectly. Yes, I'm a little disappointed, especially since I got the correct gauge too. I guess we get what we pay for sometimes, but oh well, the basics for the pattern are good and I'll just change the numbers to get a dress that will fit a real baby. The little red Mary Jane sock is a victim of incorrect gauge, but a really neat learning experience, intarsia in the round, and it barely fit the teeny feet on this doll, so I'll go ahead and make another one to match it after I make the required adjustments for a pair for my little granddaughter. The doll isn't going to grow out of them so she will just have to wait LOL!!

And this is another baby afghan knit on my Toyota KS950 punchcard machine. I really am pleased with the way it turned out, but I do need to get a better photo. It's cream colored with a pale pink ribbon woven through the crochet edge.

First Birthday Gift?

Well, I thought I'd convert the All In One Cardigan pattern that I am so fond of for use with the Bernat Softee Baby Jacquards yarn on my mid-gauge LK140. This doll wears about a size 3 months to 6 months size and as you can see, this sweater will fit a 12month old quite well. Major calculation failure, but at least it's proportionate and came out too big all over instead of just too wide or just too long!! I had a heck of a time deciding what kind of trim I wanted to put around it, nothing I did looked right until I tried these garter stitch bands. Perfect for the sweater and the sleeve cuffs are long enough to roll up too.

So, it won't be a new baby present, but I'll knit up a pair of matching lavender pants and a pair of socks out of the jacquard and maybe a little beanie hat with the jacquard and lavender together for a cute little suit for Selene's first birthday next October. Since I have a real reputation for giving gifts belatedly, at least I can honestly say I knit this one up with oodles of time to spare. Ok, 11 months in advance LOL!! Keep your fingers crossed that I don't forget I knit it and pack it away someplace never to be found again :)

Xena's New Bed?

These were so funny I just had to put them up. When I left to my Doctor visit she had scrunched down the one mattress on the futon, I have 2 pads, a thick one and a thin one, and when Xena gets a little chilled, she likes to be under covers. Well, I guess she couldn't get herself buried under the blanket so, like a good crafter, she improvised :)

When I came home this evening, this is what I found. What a nut!! I guess she warmed up. You know what, she has her very own felted kitty bed that she usually sleeps in when she's not in her corner by my feet in my bed, but it's in the window of my little knitting room. Silly Kitty!

Maybe I need to felt a little foam mattress pad for the inside of her bed. Come to think of it, she's in the window when I'm at the computer or on my bulky machine. Guess I really need to make her another felted kitty pie bed since she really just wants to be where I am. Especially since her daddy is in California now, she really feels abandonded and has gotten a little bit clingy.

Experiments

Knit weaving experiment. It looks better in the picture than it does in real life. I'm using a solid for the knit yarn and an icky scratchy ombre for the weave. It looks kind of messy and doesn't appeal to me though. More to come, I've got a dark brown that I'm playing with now.

What's up.

When my son and his lady friend moved here from Florida, I gave up my knitting room for them. That meant packing away most all of my knitting machines and yarn stash. I decided I might as well take advantage of the circumstances to force myself to learn my White 1602 electronic doublebed machine, so I packed away all my standard gauge machines but that one. It's very nice and more fancy than what I'm used to. I guess the best way to describe it would be that it's a step up in technology than the punchcard machines since it uses an electric circuit and light scanning box to select the needles for pattern stitches instead of the older punchcard technology. The programing also allows for some fabrics that I wouldn't be able to easily create on my Japanese flat bed machines, like doublebed jacquard. My beloved Toyota machine has Simulknit which means floatless fair isle, but that's not quite the same as the doublebed jacquard. The other benefits to this machine are not having to punch out cards, it has 60 stitch reusable mylar cards for more intricate motifs and it also has the ability to knit a single gigantic motif, like a black and white picture of Elvis' face for example, across the whole 200 needlebed.

Anyway, I've been a little intimidated by this machine, I've had it for 8 years? Oh gosh, didn't realize it had been that long, I lucked into it on an eBay auction back before I knew what I was doing and had only been a Bond knitter!! Shame on me, the only things I've really knit on it have been socks and swatches. That's why I decided it was time to stop letting this beautiful piece of equipment get the better of me. I'm still fighting the urge to unpack my Toyota punchcard machine, it's so much easier to go back to what I know than it is to meet the challenge of learning something new, but I am determined and it's paying off.

I knit these socks with it (they don't really count though since I already knew how to do this, they were warm ups and confidence builders I suppose). The little doll dress I knit last spring was started from a swatch that was knit on this machine too.

Some Fingerless Mitts with it (this was an exercise in U knitting to create a thumb hole, highly successful)

This swatch I knit today to see the range of yarns that it would take. My Toyota knits this Lion Brand Soft Baby Sport yarn with no problem, it's what I used to knit up the Wedding afghan for Sarah and Tim's wedding gift, but I didn't know if the White 1602 would be able to handle it. It does! So then I had to try

Lion Brand Wool Ease Worsted just to see, and much to my surprise, it knits too!!! It even was able to do a tuck rib stitch! It needs edge weights that I didn't bother with for the swatch and I think if I were to knit a garment with this yarn on this machine I would try every other needle. I like a little more drape to my knits. But ain't it cool? I just might be able to sell my mid gauge machines after all!

I also knit a face cloth with it, but it was way too large so I frogged it and will try again. I've been having a hard time getting it to knit cotton, with these successes to today, I think I'll get brave and try the cotton again. I think I might just have had it on the wrong tension settings.

So that's what's going on in my boring little life today :) What fun!

Latest Finished Projects

My new to me Grandson, Severen, is a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fan. Raphael is his favorite so I made this up for him. It's hand knit with Red Heart Sport on size 5 needles. I didn't have a pattern so I just guessed using the Red Heart websites hat pattern chart as a guide, I sure hope it fits. It's too small for me but too big for the baby doll and it measures out for what patterns say should fit a 6 year old kid sooo....

This American Girl sized doll dress was finished up yesterday. It's machine and hand knit with a crochet edge.
I found the instructions to make these beaded earrings at some website online. My beads are a little too large so they are bigger earrings than I wanted, but I wore them anyway. I've ordered some size 11/0 beads to make a couple more pairs, just a more reasonable size. I really enjoyed making them. It's called a Basket Stitch, built from a ladder stitch base. Very fun to do.

Becca and Justin Anderson May 25, 2008

The new family
The "Bashful Bride"
The Newlyweds

Circle/Pinwheel Doll Sweater

The Circle/Pinwheel Sweater. This little experiment was taken from a free hand knit pattern at http://www.elann.com/ . I can't really say how I did it in details, I lost my notes so I don't know how many stitches I cast on, but I did it using the same short row wedge technique for the round/pinwheel baby blanket patterns that are available on the internet. For the sleeve openings I just dropped one ball and picked up another ball which left like a button hole in the wedge where I wanted the sleeves to go and I hand knit the sleeves with dpn's. It worked great, but I was shooting for an infant size and it ended up a perfect size for the 18" doll :) That's cool, I'll figure out how to make a matching one to fit my granddaughter and I think she will really like it :)
This is how it looks from the back. Oh, this is the long edge down with the shorter edge at the neckline for a small shawl type collar. Below is the sweater flipped over.
Same sweater, short edge down and the long edge used as a big shawl collar.
I think it turned out pretty cute if I may say so myself :)

Tofutsie Anklets and Latest OTN

These anklets are knit with Tofutsie's Bamboo blend yarn. There is enough left in the ball to make another pair of these I think. There's lots of yarn and this stuff is really soft. It splits a bit so I don't think I would use it on my machines, but it's wonderful to hand knit with. I like it.

I finished the Tofutsie's anklets on the plane to Michigan and I started these. This yarn is a hank I got off of eBay from Karen's Kolorways, it's a wool/tencel blend and it's really great. I haven't washed it yet so I don't know how it washes out or if it blooms, but it's very soft and these colors are incredibly vibrant. I believe I'll be buying more of this stuff too :)

Sarah and Tim's Wedding Gift

This was knit on my Toyota KS950. I was inspired by Gladys Goodeys Aran Afghan punchcard and created the hearts in a tuck stitch. The trellis type tuck stitch panel pattern was punched from the Harmony Guide to Machine Knit Stitches. I used Lion Brand's Baby Soft Sport weight yarn, but it's really lighter than sport but a tiny bit heavier than fingering weight. It knit beautifully on my machine and I love the total weight and over all feel to the afghan. It's actually pictured on the top of a queen sized bed, so it's more a coverlet than an afghan :) I sure hope they enjoy it, I think it's really snuggly.

The Hand Knit Booties

These are the hand knit booties, I just love those little mary janes :) I haven't seen them on the baby yet, but I'm told that they look adorable. That makes me very happy.

Baby Girl Knitting

E.J.'s Boss gave birth to a baby girl a couple of weeks ago and slow procrastinator, never satisfied with what I'm knitting me, still is working on her gifts. I know, shame on me! Here is where I'm at. I also have a pair of little knit legging type pants on the machine too. I should get the crochet around the edge of the 3rd little sweater this weekend, get them laundered and delivered this weekend. Keep your fingers crossed for me :)

Oh! These were all knit on my Toyota KS950 standard gauge with crochet trims around the little Matinee Jackets. I really should knit a bonnet and some booties too. I just found my favorite baby book of patterns, go figure, I've been searching high and low for it for a couple of months now, turns out I had stashed it under my desk in a magazine holder. So now I have even more ideas to work out, I'm in knitting heaven :)

Success!!!

I received my electronic scanner box for my White 1602 fixed doublebed machine last weekend and it works!! It's awesomely wonderful and I am so excited about all the wonderful stitch patterns I'll be able to knit on this machine :) This is a scan of my very first patterned stitch swatch. It's a slip stitch pattern and I just think it's beautiful! The differences in the diamond shapes near the bottom are from tension changes on the settings, the larger wavey pattern at the top was supposed to be a different pattern, but I didn't understand what I was doing and when I changed the carriage settings, this is what I got instead. I've lots to learn!

Alexander's Hoodie

I just realized that I hadn't put any pictures up of Alexander's finished Hoodie. This was part of his Christmas present package. I also knit him a balaclava, like the one E.J. is wearing further down in this post. He is still waiting for a pair of socks in "all those colors, Grandma" and he's also requested another Hoodie, with red and blue in it :) He loves that I make him stuff.

I used the varigated yarn to knit the front and back and was going to use the solid navy for the accent, but it looked horrible! Not appropriate for an 8 year old boy anyway. Would have been cute for a baby I suppose, but this is done in Bernat Softee Chunky so it's got huge stitches.
I knit it up on my Toyota KS610 bulky machine.

Below is the balaclava I knit for E.J. It's out of the same yarn that Alex's was knit with. Now, this one I did by hand, I converted the hand knit pattern to the machine and knit Alex's on the LK140 so it had a seam up the back of it. I also ran out of yarn while knitting E.J.'s so I had to improvise and used a double strand of Lion Brand Wool-Ease sportweight. The color is different, but it almost looks like I planned it that way. Both hats were knit in Lion Brand Wool-Ease worsted weight based on the Helmet Liner pattern at http://www.tropicalyarns.com

My only suggestion would be to make the ribbed neck part about 2 inches longer for better neck coverage. E.J. folds the ribbing up and it looks like a regular knit hat when he isn't keeping the cold wind off his face. I should have knit him some of these years ago because he says it really does keep him warm, along with his scarf that is :) Stick 'Em Up!

First Finished UFO for 2008

These socks have been OTN's for over a year now. I think this Regia sock yarn was among the first skeins of sock yarn I ever bought! Anyway, the pattern was an experiment, E.J. commented that he can feel the bumps from the purl side of the fabric on the soles of his feet, I think he just has over sensitive feet. But anyway, I decided to try switching my stitches so the knit side was "under foot" and guess what? He's right, there really is a difference. My feet aren't so sensitive so the purl bumps are fine for me, but I guess this will be the new method to use for his socks. Too bad I really dislike purl knitting. Maybe I'll just make his socks inside out next time and see how that works :) Anyway, one UnFinished Object down, a gazillion more to go.

Oh, and aren't these clear clogs a kick? Just right for showing off crazy knit socks :)