Savannah's sweater on the catwalk

Savannah's walking!  And her sweater finally fits!

Instead of going to the Farmer's Market, we went to the Farmer

Amanda and I have a weekend tradition of going to the farmer's market and loading up on fresh veggies for the week.  This past weekend, we skipped the farmer's market and went straight to a farmer.

The photo above doesn't really do this garden justice.  It's massive.  And prolific.  I remember when this area was all hog lots.  I guess 30+ years of pig poop will leave some really fertile ground!

One highlight was the red potatoes.  My mom gardened when I was a little girl, and I vaguely remember learning about planting potatoes: cutting up a potato, planting the pieces eye-up.  By the time she had four children and a lot of for-money farming to do all day every day, she scrapped gardening for a couple of decades.  I'm glad semi-retirement has brought back the love of gardening!

Reagan and Adrian thought the potatoes were really cool, too.  I'm looking forward to trying to plant some next year.  I think I'm willing to give up zucchini and yellow squash to make room.  I grow them because I know they'll produce, but I get pretty bored of eating them.

Best of all, Mom's garden has no shortage of tomatoes.  They were a joy to behold, since our tomatoes have provided nothing but disappointment this year.  I think the hot hot summer has been hard on the garden overall, but the tomatoes are especially sad.  I've noticed more squirrels eating what few green tomatoes are there.  I'm told the squirrels are eating them for the moisture, since they are thirsty from the lack of rain.  Go figure.

Here's the awesome caprese salad we made tonight with Mom's tomatoes and our basil.  The other half of dinner was a beet salad with beets from last week's farmer's' market.  Delicious!

Savannah's Sweater, Modeled

How good a picture can you take of a one-month old? 

Baby Savannah's Sweater

I finally finished Baby Savannah's sweater. She's two weeks old, so I'm hoping I made it in time for the baptism!   Welcome to the world, Savannah Elizabeth, the eighth of my nieces and nephews!

Adrian's Argyle Sweater Vest Modeled

Here's the final product on Nephew Sweater Vest #2. I used the same pattern for Adrian as I did for Declan, Jane Tanner's Diamond Back Argyle Sweater Vest. This time I used the specifications for the size 2 width again and the size six length, like I did for Declan, but I added even more length. I went for 9.5 inches until I started to shape armholes, and for 16 inches before I bound off. I used the same Plymouth Encore yarn, but substituted a green for one of the blues.

Why is this thing so hot?



Adrian and his big brother Reagan got dressed up in their sweater vest best for some music education at Orchestra Hall!

Nephew Vest #2

I finally got started on the second argyle sweater vest for the other two-year old nephew. Then I got on a roll and knitted and knitted and knitted, while at the same time spending a weekend watching all of season one of Downton Abbey, my new favorite show. One Sunday night, I looked down and realized I had gone several inches past the point where I should have stopped and decreased for the arm and neck holes.

(insert choice swear words here)

The god of knitting has taught me nothing if not patience and humility. I knew the only answer was to learn some good backing-up technique (known in knitting circles as "frogging," because you "rip it, rip it"). I do this all the time when I get to the end of a row and realize I've messed something up. But I've never frogged on this scale before. I've never torn out inches of work before.



To make things worse, I had already worked in all the ends from all those colorful diamonds. I learned the first time I did this vest that you can save yourself a lot of crazy mess anxiety with all those strands hanging off the back if you stop periodically and work them in. This does not come in handy when you have to rip it out. Not only is it more work I did for naught, but it made the ripping out process all knotty. Not fun.

But I did it anyway. I got really good visual instructions from knitty.com. Basically you pick a row you want to go back to, and then insert a needle into the right leg of every knit stitch all the way across your piece. Then you just start pulling out everything above it.

Declan's Argyle Sweater Vest Modeled

Sweater vest #1 went to little Declan this weekend. He wears it well! I think I'll try to make Adrian's a little longer. And I'll use shades of green instead of blue. Can't wait to get started!

I can't even stand this photo with the Alfalfa hair!

Nephew Vest #1

Almost two years ago, in February and March 2010, two new nephews came into my life. I knitted three fourths of a sweater. It's time to get caught up on long overdue baby gifts. These two boys are getting argyle sweater vests this winter. The first one is now complete! I should probably still block it, but below are the progress photos through the end.

I used Plymouth Encore worsted weight yarn (25% wool, 75% acrylic). I followed Jane Tanner's Diamond Back Argyle Vest pattern from Ravelry. I followed the size two instructions in width, but the size six instructions in length, since my gauge is wide and the pattern photos looked a little short to begin with.

Baby Shae's Sweater, Modeled

Shae's sweater made it safely to Buffalo. Feast your eyes on the cuteness!

Baby Shae's Sweater

One of my many craft failures happened two years ago, when Baby Shae was born. You may remember I had been working diligently on "Mini Brynn's Sweater" before she arrived. Well, that girl grew quickly, and I was a slow crafter. Pretty soon she was too big for the sweater, and I quit at about 75% of the way through the project. Craft Fail. Now she's two, and I've finally gone back and made her a sweater.

This pattern is a much quicker knit. There's no lace, it's knit in all one piece from the top down, and there are no sleeves. Mollie bought the pattern, "In Threes" through Ravelry from Kelly Without A Net and lent it to me.

Since my gauge is always so wide, I used a size 7 circular needle (24 inch) rather than the recommended size 8/5mm needle. I followed the size 4T/5T pattern. The yarn is a Berroco Vintage blend (50% acrylic, 40% wool, 10% nylon) that claims to be machine washable. Care instructions: Machine wash inside out in cold water, gentle cycle. Lay flat to dry. I asked the folks at StevenBe for a machine washable yarn, but I didn't ask about the drying. I'm sure my sister's going to be really happy to hear that I gave her a sweater she can't throw in with the rest of the laundry.

Here's the preliminary product, before blocking. I made a mistake at one point. Apparently halfway across the back I reverted to stockinette, so my garter rows don't match up in the front. Embarrassing.

Here's the final product, after blocking and finishing.

I hope I'll get some pictures of the sweater being modeled soon!

Brynn's legwarmers, modeled

I think she likes them!

Brynn's Sparkly Legwarmers

After Abby got a pair of sparkly legwarmers, I decided that my six-year-old niece needed some, too. I picked a pattern from Ravelry called Beanstalks. It's kind of a fake cable pattern, involving some fancy stitches but no real cabling. Hopefully I'll get a picture of the model in a couple weeks!

Crayon Rolls

You may think that there has been no crafting at Aunt Lola's house since there have been no posts. How wrong you'd be! As a matter of fact, I've created a new craft room to house all the crafting! When Amanda moved in, she took over my old craft room, and now the basement guest room has become a guest room/craft room. Interestingly, I've actually used it more than I did when it was upstairs. It's a little bigger and feels like my own little studio apartment. Plus it's close to the ironing board, which I pulled in for this recent craft project.



Two of my little munchkins turned three this fall, so I made crayon rolls for birthday gifts. I got the idea from Skip to My Lou. I was delighted to find that Skip has experimented quite a bit and has posted several variations of the project:

http://www.skiptomylou.org/2009/12/18/felt-crayon-holder/
http://www.skiptomylou.org/2008/09/09/keep-on-rollin/
http://www.skiptomylou.org/2008/08/06/felt-crayon-roll/
http://www.skiptomylou.org/2007/04/25/on-a-roll/

I copied the project, and put my own stamp on it. My biggest difference was that I used a magnetic snap closure instead of using one of Lou's options. I thought the magnet would be easiest for tiny fingers.

This was my first foray into piping, and it doesn't look like my most professional work. As I often do, I found myself cursing the fact that I only took sewing in 4-H for two years. I think Grandma Lo should give Aunt Lola some more lessons.

You can imagine how huge my big beaming smile was when Ava stopped opening her birthday presents after she opened mine. She immediately pulled out the crayons and started coloring.

I asked the moms for feedback a few weeks later, and one suggested a flap to keep the crayons in place. Apparently they fall out when the roll is turned upside down. Duly noted.

Teaching Myself to Crochet

I'm teaching myself to crochet. Mollie tried to teach me a few months ago, but I didn't get the hang of it. When I saw her awesome squares for Henry's blanket, I knew I needed to try again. This time I decided to teach myself using the Happy Hooker book by Debbie Stoller. I had learned most of my knitting skills from her Stitch 'n' Bitch book years ago, so I decided if anyone could teach me how to crochet, Debbie could.

Alissa gave me a handful of hooks and yarn last time I saw her, because motherhood means no time for hobbies, apparently. Bummer for her! Guess that makes me lucky to not be a mom right now. But as a side note, look at this picture from Henry's baby shower last weekend! I can still adore other people's kids and make time for hobbies.

Anyway, I started reading the book and practicing the stitches. Here's my practice piece. And no, I will not be using it for a scarf.

Check out the triangular shape down towards the bottom. Funny, that's how my first knitted scarf looked, too. Looks like I dropped a few stitches.

I started out with a few rows of basic single crochet stitches (sc). Not too shabby. The funny row in the middle is a row of slip stitches (sl).

Next I learned the half-double crochet stitch (hdc).

Then on to double crochet stitch (dc).

And finally, triple crochet stitch (tr).

I didn't go on to double triple (dtr) and triple triple (ttr) crochet stitches, because I decided I pretty much got the gist. So next I started attempting a simple shell pattern. It doesn't look as pretty as the picture in the book, but I think I'm starting to get the idea.