The Fires and Finally, A Finished Object

This is first and foremost a crafting blog, and I debate internally on how much of my "secular" life to share here. There are times -- of which there seem to be many, lately -- when my life outside of crafting has been so overwhelming that I feel it would be disrespectful not to mention it.

The southern California wildfires are still burning, thankfully none close enough to our home to necessitate an evacuation. The Santiago Fire is in the mountains about 3 miles east of where we live. The smoke and ash in the air make it unbearable to be outside for more than a few minutes, and it is actually much better today than it had been during the early part of this week. Let's hope for a quick end to this disaster, and please keep the firefighters and the people and animals who have lost their homes in your thoughts.

And now, as they say in the morning news when they move from the Iraq War to Britney Spears: "On a lighter note...". The Child's Placket Neck Sweater is finally d-o-n-e and I l-o-v-e it. You can get the milk without buying the cow here (pattern is in pdf).

Patten: Child's Placket Neck Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Size: 0-6 month, but bigger yarn resulted in about 12-month size
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool Ease, Dark Rose Heather
Needles: Addi Turbo 16" circulars & Clover bamboo dpns, both in US 9
Buttons: Wood, from JoAnne Crafts, and little plastic ones from some old shirt.
Modifications: Just the yarn, this pattern was super easy to follow as is!
For Ravelry users, the info is also here.

The first thought was to use grosgrain ribbon to line the placket and give stability to the button holes and the button band, but I found the stretchiness in the button holes was a good thing. If they get out of shape, I can take the sweater back and add the stabilizing ribbon then.

Instead, I used smaller plastic buttons to back up the public buttons. They are on there super duper secure, with quadrupled knotting as only a former climbing anchor builder can do. I refuse to let these buttons pop off an get into a little one's trachea.

This dear little sweater was made for a co-worker's impending baby. Since said baby is still impending, the 12-month-old sizing may not work out with the seasons. (Based on informal polling of mothers, babies often wear sizes that are 1-2 sizes bigger than their age. Meaning this baby will probably be wearing the sweater next August...not exactly sweater season in the OC.) I've decided to gift it instead to a family baby who is now a jolly 6-month-old and will be a roly poly 9-month-old come winter. And she lives on the east coast. Perfect!

Finishing this sweater was a pleasant break from the Monkey Socks, which are due to my pal this week. I've got two more repeats then the toe and sock number 2 will be d-o-n-e as well. Gotta get busy!

The Time Suck

Despite getting a Ravelry invite several months ago, I have only just recently logged on and started exploring. Oh my goodness, no wonder people rave about it. All of my internet goof-off time this week - which used to be dedicated to blogs - has been poured into setting up my Ravelry notebook and checking out what others have posted. It is amazing. If you haven't added yourself to the list for an invite yet, go do it now! You don't need to have a blog outside, just a Flickr account with photos of your knitting and your stash. Freaking great.

Before I go back to Ravelry today, I thought I'd share a few things I've been working on. (I seem to get super-crafty-productive only when I am stressed and busy with work. Anyone else experience the same thing?)

Mom's Guilt Socks - first one was completed last night, afterthought heel and all:

Child's Placket Neck Pullover from Last Minute Knitted Gifts (made from this corrected pattern) - for a co-worker's impending baby:

I still need to close up the underarms and buy some buttons, but this thing is basically done. Super fun and super easy. It's my first seamless raglan sweater and I LOVE it. I may never go back.

If you want to visit me at Ravelry, I can be found under username "MrsHipp". Take care, y'all!

(BTW: Those of you in So Cal - did you feel the earthquake a few minutes ago?!?)

We Have a Winner!

The baby sock/swatch using the blue/white Socka Colori is finished. So bitty and cute! I really like the faded blue colors as they are -- like old denim. And look how the self-striping made the toe and heel stand out. Love it. I hope I can find a similar starting point for the next one so that they sort of match.


At this point, I think I am leaning toward using the Raspberry Chocolate yarn for my Sockapalooza 4 socks. I took the advice and comments to heart, and also had a little pondering time to myself.

Not to get all goal-oriented on you (oh, my mother would be so proud), but I think it came down to what I wanted to achieve with making this socks. This sock exchange is a great way to force myself to learn new things without making a half-assed effort -- a nice lady in a far off land is looking forward to receiving my handiwork; I cannot let her down! So do I want to focus on learning about dyeing and colors, or on pattern and technique? Given my current level of knitting, I think the logical choice would be to challenge myself with pattern and technique. The Zen Yarn Garden yarn is pleasurable to work with, it will be all the easier to keep focus on learning new knitterly skills. Experimenting with color and dyeing will be an excellent way to step it up after I have further mastered the process of knitting in itself.

Besides, this little blue bootie came out so well. It would be a shame to mess with a good thing.

And now, onto the hunt for a pattern...

Bootie Bootie Bootie Bootie Rockin' Everywhere

As promised, here are photos of the completed Debbie Bliss baby bootie pattern adapted to knitting in the round.

Can someone please call the police? Because cuteness like this cannot be legal.

And the i-cord ankle tie came out so perfect. Better than the original strap with a button, if I do say so myself...and no worries about a choking hazard!

I'm no Grumperina, but even I can tell when a pattern is in need of improvement. I can see no reason for this pattern to be knit flat then seamed up the middle except fear of being intimidating. The modifications I made to knit it in the round are certainly not intimidating, even to a big lazy knitting chicken like me. Certainly nothing that a beginner with some cojones and a row marker couldn't handle.

I guess Debbie Bliss' patterns do not cater to the cojones crowd. What a shame.

Coming Up for Air

Crafting content has been put on an unfortunate hold as I deal with this at work. If you've ever wondered what an epidemiologist does, this is a doozy of an example.

No pictures yet, but my attempt at knitting the latest baby bootie in the round is a success! I've decided that a button for the ankle strap is just a little too risky for my taste. Um, would you want to be the knitter who introduced a potential choking hazard to your friend's baby? So I'm going to try making an i-cord that's long enough to tie into a bow instead.

My mother gave up on waiting for her Scholar Collar. She found an acceptable substitute for herself at an REI sale - $2 for a 100% silk knit scarf! Sorry, Mom, that I didn't finish your scarf in a reasonable time, but I think you scored a major deal in the end.

Keeping checking back for my next gasp of fresh air! Send good thoughts to the ill people in this outbreak for a quick and healthy recovery.

Dementia Prevention

This baby bootie is so freakin' cute I can hardly stand it, despite the weird instructions to knit it flat and seam it up the middle of the sole. Bootie #2 will be knit in the round, partially to get rid of that annoying seam and partly as some knitterly dementia prevention. If all goes well, I can rip out Bootie #1 and re-do it in the round to match. When a knit is this small, it's not too painful to unravel it...even for a slow knitter like me!

We've Only Just Begun

From Wendee on the "Babies Babies Everywhere" post:

I hear that we are having one of the biggest baby booms since, well, the baby boom.

That certainly seems to be the case for people around me. I know five expectant mothers right now, one with twins! Look at what arrived in yesterday's mail...


It's time to start another baby knit! Now, if I were a savvy knitter, I would start on each baby knit when I learn of each pregnancy rather than when I learn of each baby shower. That would be quite smart and organized of me. That would also make Mr. Hipp cry out, "Who are you and what have you done with my wife!?!" Savvy, smart, and organized aren't words that are often applied to me...at least not the knitter in me. (I try to bring a bit of savvy, smarts, and organization to at least my work life...I think that about exhausts my supplies, though!)

So in an effort to be a bit more on the ball, I have started this baby knit ASAP. Always the rebel, I cast on for a non-beaded, non-fair isle, version of Debbie Bliss' Beaded Fair Isle Shoes.


These are coming along swimmingly so far. They are knit more or less flat and have a seam along the bottom of the sole and up the back of the heel; it seems odd to have this sort of construction when it could just be made in the round. Good thing babies aged 3-6 months don't do much walking or else that seam would get really uncomfortable really fast.

Fickle Finger of Fate

A more fickle knitter you will never meet. The baby booties, despite the three versions -- plus one more (failed) test for a revised Robin-Hood bootie -- and some super soft cashmere-blend yarn, have been deemed a failure. The ribbed version just didn't look nice in the end. It looked so...home made. As a crafter this is painful to say, since "home made" is usually a motto of pride. But this poor little bootie was less "hand crafted especially for you" and more "you're auntie made this for you so you're going to wear it, no matter how much your friends laugh". I just couldn't bear the thought of starting this child on a path of ridicule.

So I turned to blogland and came upon the Top Down Bonnet at brooklyntweed. Yes!

It was done in about eight hours...not too bad for a last minute change of knitting plans.

Lacking an actual baby to model the bonnet, I hunted around the house for something else small and round. A vase from our Costa Rican honeymoon seemed close enough when turned upside down.


The vase enjoys wearing the bonnet while facing forward...


...and turned to the side.


I am in LOVE with this bonnet. It looks home made in the good way. The parents of this baby are leaving the baby's gender a surprise, so I figured the green stripes would be both gender-neutral and fun.

Now all I have to do is get this thing to South Carolina before Saturday. Ack! Think I have time to knit some baby tube socks before tomorrow's FedEx pick up? Heh heh.

Babies Babies Everywhere

It seems like everyone I know is having a baby nowadays. The Jaywalker socks, Sunrise Circle Jacket, and Knock Off Bag have been put on a three-day hiatus so I can make a quick gift for an upcoming baby shower. I can't attend the shower, but I figured I should send a little knitting love to the baby anyway. (If you know which baby I am talking about, please don't spill the beans before the shower!)

My first thought was to make these Robin-Hood-like booties from Debbie Bliss' The Baby Knits Book. The construction seemed simple but interesting. You knit three diamonds:one for the outside (black), one for the lining (tan), and one for the heel (both colors).


Wait a minute, black booties for a baby? I say you are never two young to have a good pair of basic black shoes. Besides, it's what I had in my stash. So there.

This bootie ended up sort of weird-looking, though. First, it's huge. Like toddler huge. The front is pretty cute (center bootie, below), but the diamonds come to a sharp point in the back that just doesn't make any sense. Unless babies have fighting blades attached to the backs of the their heels, a la cockfight?

So I moved on to just making a basic tow-up sock with the lining yarn (a yummy cashmere blend). I felt sort of bleh about the first one, too (left bootie, above). The second one has ribbing at the top (right bootie, above) that I think is going to be the big winner in the end. I think the ribbing will help it stay on Baby's teeny feet.

I'm going to have to work on that Robin-Hood bootie pattern. I can't get it out of my head! I feel like it has such potential...just need to get rid of those fighting cock blades...