My computer ate my handwork

I think there's some sort of odd conspiracy to keep these pics off the net for some reason. I have taken pics of these two soakers 2 or 3 times so far and only have these pics to show for it. Currently I'm doing a deep search of my computer with Picasa in hopes that I'll find them buried somewhere very remote, but till then, here are pics of my very first soaker (the striped one, a Curly Purly knit-in-the-round soaker) and a soaker that I rescued. The peach one was a Freecycle hand-me-down that accidentally got into the diaper wash and felted & shrunk up pretty good. It used to fit my 3 yo DD, but now it sorta almost fit E with a little prefold peeking out here and there so I added the green ribbing to provide better coverage. Now it works quite nicely. The peachy orange yarn has wisps of green in it so hence the green color I chose. The Curly Purly soaker is very nice, but also too big for E so I'll probably make a smaller one soon. So far I've really liked that pattern as well as the Ottobre pattern. I'd like to do both of them again, but would also like to try some of the other patterns out there as well. Currently I'm working on a wrap soaker. After that I might try the Tickle Turdle Wrap. Since it's crochet it should work up quickly.

Jackpot

DH has been cleaning in the basement and moving some things over from storage and he brought home a container of clothes that I'm almost positive I looked in, but apparently didn't. Anyway, when I opened it up, I was met with the happy image if a bag full of ex-burpcloth prefold diapers. Hot diggity! I have been here wishing I had a few more and now I'm sittin' pretty with as many diapers as I could ever need. How cool is that? Oh the simple pleasures...

Oh la la... stitch markers!

For the longest time, when my knitting instructions call for placing a stitch marker, I've just used a loop of yarn in a contrasting color... not very glamorous. So, recently I came across the idea of stitch markers made from wire & beads and since I had all the supplies, I went to town. Here are my creations:












The loops are all the same size tho the camera doesn't make it look that way. Now I can knit in style :o)

Crochet Bind Off

Since my first soaker (a Curly Purly out of Wool of the Andes wool), I've been testing out binding off methods. I wanted to find something that had some give to it, and I wasn't satisfied with simply binding off the "normal" way with larger needles. Then I stumbled upon the Single Crochet bind off and some directions (found here) that said to bind off two, chain one and voila... a very nice bound off edge that has plenty of give to it. At first I was trying to do everything with two knitting needles, but when I swapped the right needle for a crochet hook it got very quick and easy.

Finished!

Hooray, finally got the knit-as-fast-as-you-can-along soaker done. I took it to a sewing class this afternoon (went to knit while socializing more than anything) and got it finished up to the point of sewing up the green seams (forgot to bring the green yarn with me). Then finished sewing it up when I got back home. I have to say I don't think I'm very good at joining edges of garter stitch. Oh well, hopefully it won't be too obvious. So, without further ado, tada! Will see if I can get my little guy to model it tomorrow.

Had this bit done before I went to the sewing class at 3 p.m.

Progress Report

I dreamed of knitting soakers all night after finishing up late late last night, er, this morning. Anyway, when I finally dragged myself out of bed this morning, I went straight to knitting (around making blueberry pancakes for the natives) and have finally cast off the front waistband (a little floppy for my liking so I'll probably try another "stretchy" bind off next time). Now just need to knit the legs and sew everything up and I'll be done. All in all, it's been a pretty fast project.

Ottobre knit-as-fast-as-you-can-along

Ok, so I started this knit-along in dead last place. I took my knitting to a church social tonight and knitted through a mango-under-your-neck [chin] relay and at least held the knitting thru a balloon-held-between-two- people's-heads-while-running relay and knit until DH couldn't stay up to watch any more TV with me (when we finally got back home) and it really is a bit late so I'll post my progress so far. At least I've gotten down to the part where I start to decrease for the legs. I'm using some of my birthday Wool of the Andes wool on some dpn's that I bought in Africa and have had for a coon's age. Still some of my favorite needles.

My favorite wrap soaker

Here is my favorite daytime soaker, made from a recycled 100% Wool Marino sweater (using the pattern found here). It's SO soft and cuddly. I wish it held up a little better before getting saturated, but it usually does fine for daytime use. Wish I had 6 of them as Eli's soakers do tend to get pooped on just a little too often. I do have 4 other soakers from this pattern (that I can think of off the top of my head), but they seem to be in constant airing out or poopy rinsing/drying rotation. Can't wait till I can make (knit) some from scratch. Soon I hope. I think the wool fairy is bringing some for my birthday ;)

So Far Behind

Well, the baby's here, my computer crashed, had to reformat twice, and ... excuses excuses. I'm baaaack. Baby E made his arrival on a cool and rainy (I'm struck by the irony of the page name) May morning, in our living room, in a fishy covered inflatable pool. I had possibly the best (albeit the longest) birth yet. My midwife and her apprentice attended and everything went flawlessly. Daddy caught the baby and big brother and sister watched with Grandma from the couch. I didn't have really long or hard contractions for the bulk of the time and things only started to get rough after my water broke, but then about 15 minutes later, E was born, all 9 pounds 1 ounce of him. Big baby! but thank God no tearing. He took to nursing just fine. I had to make myself latch him on properly tho, after the first night, as things were starting to get a little ouchy in that department. But all is well now, he latches himself on and even lets me sleep at night (well, a little more than the last two anyway). He was smiling within the first week of his life though the smiles were very fleeting. He was really smiling by 5 weeks (pretty normal I guess). I started out EC'ing him and he did great at the beginning. I am still trying, but sleep deprivation of late and his getting used to going in his diapers is playing a factor in our success or lack thereof. I want to get him a Baby Bjorn Little Potty as that would ease the strain of holding him while I wait to see if he needs to go. He's my first cloth diapered baby. I was way too intimidated and overwhelmed by all the choices to do it for the last two, but this time finances or the lack thereof, insist that I do. I've had great fun making diapers and wool soakers (so far only out of recycled sweaters). I started out with a bunch of fitted pocket and AIO diapers, but then decided that I liked plain old prefold diapers as well or better than the fancier diapers. I just learned about tie diapers so have made a few of those. We'll see how I like them to see if I want to make any more.