bellevett

yarn along.

 

 

i started this adorable sweater ohhhhhh, about 4 years ago.  i wasnt doing so well with the lace pattern for some reason and ended up ripping it out except for the cabled collar.  it has stayed in my ravelry queue waiting to be resumed. 

everytime i looked in my yarn stash, this yarn made me feel guilty because it was just sitting there. i had a terrible feeling i would end up taking it to goodwill in 20 years, completely unused.  i tried to find something else to do with it but i didnt have enough for any other project and the yarn was discontinued.

fast forward to the beginning of this summer.  i decided i needed to get the sweater started back up so i picked it up in may and began again.  i discovered i was missing the most important page of the pattern which contained the lace leaf pattern, so i had to contact the designer and explain that the last time i downloaded the pattern i had saved it onto my old hard drive and now i needed access to the lace leaf pattern!  she is incredibly nice and sent me a new pattern out right away.  crisis averted, i was back on track. 

after being side tracked with a few other projects, i ended up working on the lace leaf cardi again seriously in august.  while spending a long weekend in roanoke va with my most knitterly (actually, she crochets like a mad woman) friend, knitting my fingers off, i ended up in the worst case scenario: i ran out of yarn.  i had looked all over the house for my last ball and never found it.  i kept weighing the ball of yarn and i thought it would make it.  i found out during my knitterly weekend that i was terribly wrong. 

and yes, i repeat, it is discontinued. 

ravelry to the rescue, i found one person willing to sell me their last three balls in their stash.  i received them this week and i am working like a mad woman to finish it before something else terrible happens. 

what is concerning me about this situation is that i know i bought 6 balls of yarn.  several situations could have happened:

1. i ended up cutting and throwing away some of it that got tangled and knotted beyond repair while ripping the sweater out the last time.

2. i have lost a ball of yarn in the house somewhere and i will find it as soon as i finish the sweater.

3. my gauge is very very wrong and and i measured myself incorrectly resulting in using more yarn than the pattern intended.

pleeeeaaasssseeee dont let it be situation 3.  i cant handle that after avoiding so many disastrous situations concerning this little brown sweater.

i am almost to the waistband, so time will tell.  i will keep you updated.

***********

as far as my reading goes, i have been really into poetry lately.  i seem go in phases, i will devour novels for months, then move to short stories, then spend a month in poetry.  i FINALLY found a copy of Mary Oliver's New and Selected Poems at our used book store, so i snatched it up. the problem is, i keep reading the same 2 poems over and over.

the other collection that i am obsessing over at the moment is Adrienne Rich's the dream of a common language. when i first began this collection i was not really into it.  it seemed too emotional and too angry, and i just couldnt really connect with it.  but, every poem has such a different voice, and once i really started to understand her voice, i really began to become obsessed.  in a big big way.  also, really, i cant get the title out of my head.  seriously.  it is such a powerful statement in and of itself.  goodness.

i have about 5 books from the library sitting beside my bed, waiting on me to get started.  but the truth is, i have been saving my novels and short story collections for some upcoming down time that i have planned. 

 

so there you have it.  my readin and my knittin.  what more could you possibly want to know????

 

have i told you i have a goodreads account?  if you are on goodreads, i would love to see what you are reading! 

i am linking up with ginny today from small things for the yarn along.

 

some knits. and gifts.

 

a few simple gifts for christmas.

the pear and hat were knitted by me.

pear was knitted from itty bitty toys book, and i added some bells inside so that it would be appealing to such a rattle lover.  the hat was made from this aviatrix pattern. 

a wooden knob puzzle and a book from us.

abc blocks from a family friend.

a few small wooden trains from a cousin.

a wooden xylophone and a tambourine for this music maker lover boy was perhaps his favorite gift.

another favorite? this walker wagon from nova naturals. which he is crawling with.  this boy is such a fast crawler, why would he have any reason to actually walk? 

we intend on keeping holidays small, always, just a few simple gifts and lots of merry making.  this season was perfectly that.

 

jan 4

last night:

 

one finished turkish bed sock. 

 

sometimes things just are

and they are hard.

and there really isn't a win win situation-

or at least there isnt an instant win win situation.

and you just have to do. and continue doing.

until things just aren't anymore.

and then they are just what they are, and you look back and it all didn't really seem so hard after all.

and everyone is happy.

and it all just becomes a small and good memory.

************

i am going to enjoy the journey for a bit, even though it doesn't feel quite right.

lets see what happens. 

************

i am a lucky girl:

to have good friends to drink the above beverage with after such days......

and a good, patient, and angelic husband who never comments on the dirty kitchen or tired baby or giant bag of dirty cloth diapers i leave him with when we all know that the above situation takes at least two (on a good day) to tackle......

and a nice sock.

and an almost second sock.

and also, sometimes, it feels good to just sit, and listen.

**********************

in retrospect, not a bad day after all.

 

among other things....

lots of joy making around here.

lots of crazy around here.

lots of trying to fight the crazy around here.

............................

i finished a sweater for crosby at the beginning of december.

we had our pictures taken that weekend by a very talented photographer, in which crosby wore said sweater.

the pictures are awesome. yes. will show soon.

 

in the meantime, here is the sweater unworn.

and unblocked.

it is the perfect winter pullover.

i raveled it here with details.

.................

i will be back with more soon, but for now, i need to get back to the 2 pounds of peppermint bark.

it needs to be consumed.

 

on december 7th.

yesterday it did this:

i began to believe my dreams were finally coming true of an early december snow.

but, alas, it stopped.

inside i was finishing up this:

now i am officially casting on for a few confidential christmas gifts.

also, i finished letting these dry:

 

they are all packed up in a tin, waiting to be dipped into some white chocolate.  which will happen this weekend. if they last that long.

 

thankful five- day five: handmade

 

 

 

 

 

 

sewing.

dyeing.

and most importantly handknits.

i will be forever grateful.

stress relief in the form of wool.

 

five days of thankfulness links:

day one

day two

day three

day four

 

tons and tons of yarn.

this post will come to you with very few words.

 

it is the last post in my series of things that have been knit lately but i am just not getting to remember to share.

 

the handsome man in the handsome sweater.

finished BEFORE his birthday, in an unlikely manner....

buttons from the mystic orb store on etsy.

i love this sweater and this pattern. 

it was actually a pretty quick knit. 

so handsome.

one problem: i may have created a situation for myself in that now, cody will know the power of a handknit merino wool sweater....  i fear (hope) that more requests will come soon for another handknit.

raveled.

 

more little things.

into the woods- and baby needs another warm item, what do you do?

 

pull out last minute knitted gifts and start knitting.

 

finished this sweater a few weeks ago before we went camping and just now blocked it- it has been a well worn item already just like the pebble vest.  this yarn seems to hold up very well- but it has been discontinued unfortunately.  it is knitpicks shamrock.

 

i love this sweater. it is from more last minute knitted gifts and is the perfect gift for someone who is having a new babe- and would be perfect with a hat in the same yarn.

next up for warm weather items for crosby is a tomten.  anyone else get the elizabeth zimmerman bug when it turns cold????

owlie.

a small gift for our best friends little girls first birthday: the owlie.

i finally got around to making this pattern. 

i changed it from a pullover to a cardigan.

i used my favorite buttons, and favorite color combo- red and teal.

i used swish worsted from knitpicks. worsted superwash merino.  perfect for a babe.

i think this colorway is fired brick.

i was so obsessed with the pattern and outcome of this sweater i wanted to keep it for if/when we ever have a girl baby, but i refrained- considering we have not an inch of space to store such beauty.

i started this sweater on thursday, knitted the arms on friday during a naptime, and finished up the body and finishing on friday night.  you could consider this a 6 hour knit.

oh my oh my adorableness at its best.

 

on top of old smoky, all covered in wool.

that explains our weekend.

 

(above: second 6 hour sweater from more last minute gifts, quick scarf for myself, and infinity scarf)

this past weekend, i pulled off an epic surprise for cody.  we had plans to go camping for the weekend with two friends of ours and their baby.  what he didnt know, is that for months now, i had planned on several more people joining us in the mountains for the weekend for a camping birthday bash complete with chocolate cupcakes with salted caramel icing. 

it was a lazy daisy weekend with lots of cast iron dutch oven cooking (new for his birthday) and delicious micro brews. 

it was a weekend of big fires, short hikes turned long by multiple treacherous creek crossings that claimed the life of a pair of sunglasses, and wool..... lots and lots of wool.  especially for the baby. 

and leaf eating in the sun of course.

 

finally i am in a place in my knitting life where most of my warmest clothes were made by me.  of course, as i have camped for years and years, i have loads of "name brand" warm outdoor gear from all the best outdoor stores.  but there is no warmth like wool warmth that was made yourself. 

heck, even the above shirt that crosby is wearing is an old merino wool icebreakers shirt of mine that i downsized to make into a long sleeve merino shirt for him.  it was the perfect next to skin wool layer for him, along with some merino wool nappy pants. 

i actually took no pictures the entire weekend. all of these pictures were thankfully taken by my good friend carah. 

 

 

the above hat is a new little hat that i made with some leftover spud and chloe outer that i had laying around.  it was the shroom hat pattern and it was free free and free.

oh!  and did i tell you i finally put some buttons on the adorable and awesomely warm levenwick??

i promise myself i will photograph those buttons.  vintage.  glass.  multi colored.  need i say more?

 

what a good weekend with good memories.  and good people.  and good food.  and good beer.  and most importantly good wool.