LeesyKnits

Wake up and smell the pumpkin seeds

2009-11-08T10:57:00.004-05:00

You can hide.

You can try to pretend you have other things to do.

You can be inordinately cute

But your pumpkin guts belong to us!

Addie and Gilad's preschool went to the farm this last week (and Addie's 2 year old class used it as an excuse to teach the children all the standard nursery rhymes and songs, so all week we heard her singing "Old MacDonald" and "Baa, baa, Black Sheep" and so on). They came home with popcorn and pumpkins. So we've hacked the tops of their heads off and scooped out the brains and guts and are soon to eat fresh roasted seeds.

The Hedgehog Hats Pattern

2009-11-06T14:41:00.002-05:00

The pattern is now available for download on Ravelry. If anyone doesn't have a Ravelry account, I encourage you to go ahead and make one; the free patterns alone are so worth being there. If you choose not to and want the pattern, though, feel free to contact me and I can send you the pdf attached to an email.

Other updates: school is going terrifically for Feivel. This is so much a better fit for him academically, socially, and psychologically. He's enjoying it, he's learning, he's fitting in, he's not a discipline problem, he can start feeling better about himself because he's not a trouble maker any more now that he's in an academic environment equipped to deal with his needs.

I've actually handed in my resignation at work. It's just not working having 2 full time working parents in this family given all the special and the run-of-the-mill medical needs. In two weeks I become a SAHM; well, maybe more of a stay-at-the-doctors'-offices-mom.

Kayla's got a virus but nothing too terrible. She just needs to rest and recover.

And Addie just got a copy of the book, "The Pigeon Wants a Puppy!"

The second hedgehog hat

2009-11-02T01:54:00.002-05:00

Done. Now to get the pattern properly written and the charts too.

Plus I've started spinning some comeback type fleece dyed in cochineal and have a sock pattern packed in my knitting bag.

It's not blocked yet but:

2009-10-28T21:03:00.002-04:00

Here it is off the needles, with all the steeks whipped and so on:

Minor crisis when finishing off the steeks. I trimmed the first one down to about 3 stitches like I usually would, and then found that wasn't enough for the slippery alpaca and llama yarns, which slipped and began leaving holes! I think I fixed it, and I didn't trim the other 3 sleeve steeks, just whipped them down. The neck ones are all wool and a little yak, and those I was able to safely trim.

Now I just need a chance to wash and block it.

And I finished the first hedgehog hat today, too:

Tirtze's big day

2009-10-27T20:42:00.003-04:00

She gets her orthodontic braces tomorrow. I'm sure she won't let me take a picture since she won't let me take any now of her without braces.

I've finished the first sleeve and am on to the ribbing of the second!

I have to finish the knitting tomorrow, because I need the needle in it to finish the hat I'm designing for the Jan Brett lovers group on Rav:

Wednesday night headaches seem typical

2009-10-21T21:11:00.003-04:00

Don't they? But on the knitting front, I've finished the sheep motif on one sweater sleeve, and am about to start the bottom border and then work the cuff. It's really hard to believe I'm so close to done. I don't have pics because I keep waiting until my 2 sleeves match before I photograph each section. I do have photos of the Avery scarf I finished last week and I think I forgot to mention (yarn is Cascade Alpaca Lace which I dyed in coreopsis plants):

and of Addie in the ladybug hat I finished today:

and yes, I know she's really too old for the baby bottle, but she likes to have some milk in the bottle when she comes home from preschool every afternoon (both for comfort and because she's allowed to walk around with the bottle but not a cup). I'd rather she drank the milk, which she doesn't want in a cup, than that she drank juice or lemonade, which is what she wants in the cup.

Oh, and Feivel is liking his new school and program, hooray!

sleeves with goats

2009-10-20T20:44:00.001-04:00

Feivel's Bar Mitzvah

2009-10-19T21:59:00.003-04:00

Photos are online in an album here; and below is the text of his speech which he wrote entirely on his own; I only typed it.

A Bar Mitzva poem: A Bright New Day by Feivel

I wake up and it's a bright new day. I get out of bed. I wash my face. I take a shower. I get dressed. I pray to G-d. I eat my breakfast. I get my back pack and make my lunch and put it in my back pack and head toward the bus stop. I see my friend and I tell him to wait for me and we walk with each other. And we wait for the bus on a chilly day. When the bus comes we go in and it feels really good. It's so warm I feel toasty and I get in myself and I feel bored with nothing to do but when we get there we get ready for class. When it's time for lunch my friend comes with me to get my lunch from my locker and we go to the cafeteria and we go to our lunch table and we eat and talk and talk and talk. When the bell rings, we go to our next class. My next class is gym. For some reason I always forget my P.E. clothes and start doing gymnastics. I like the rings but when the class is over I'm sad but I know I'll have it again. When school is over I go to my bus again. When I get home I do my homework then I stay in front of the TV till dinner. When it's time for dinner I come up to the dining room to stuff my stomach until my stomach hurts a tiny bit. When dinner's over I melt my brain again, but for now on I will learn Torah after I do my homework. I'll do what my parents tell me to do and I'll do a lot of mitzvot and do a good turn daily.

Political Cartoon:

2009-10-14T10:46:00.001-04:00

Political Cartoon: "Choose Your Own Health Insurance Adventure!" by Jen Sorensen - Kaiser Health News

Shared via AddThis

Red alpacas

2009-10-13T21:29:00.002-04:00

Both of my sweater sleeves now have beautiful red alpacas:

It's my favorite yarn of all. I love the natural red alpaca and llama variant.

And just to add to the general cuteness:

It's been a busy, busy week or so

2009-10-13T15:13:00.003-04:00

First the big, important news: not only does Feivel celebrate his bar mitzvah this coming Sunday, but on Monday (the 19th), he'll finally be starting in the school program we fought all summer to get him into, the LFI (Learning for Independence) program at Cabin John Middle School. Hooray! I visited the class on Monday during their open house, and he'll visit tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon. This comes as a big relief and a big victory.

We were busy over the week of Sukkos:

Addie ate black and white cookies. "Mmmmm, chocolate. Yum!" That's a direct quote.

And now things return to normal. Well, for what passes for normal around here.

Started the sleeves!

2009-09-30T16:48:00.003-04:00

Hip, hip hooray for more yaks. I've moved on to the alpacas now, in one of my favorite of the yarns, the natural red alpaca. I'm having to remember to work all the charts upside down now for the sleeves.

I don't believe it!

2009-09-29T20:38:00.002-04:00

Sachy's 11! And even though he wasn't feeling well this morning, he rallied enough to eat pizza

and have his first ever chance to eat his own birthday cake!

sheepish, with bees

2009-09-25T12:04:00.003-04:00

I've finished the body of the sweater, 3 needle cast off to bind the shoulders, steeks cast off:

Now I have to mark and cut the steeks, work the neck ribbing, then tackle the sleeves, which are only going to have yaks, alpacas, goats, and sheep I think (yay for short arms!).

And I finished Gilad's "Bumblebee-nie"

embroidery detail:

All done yakking!

2009-09-22T14:50:00.004-04:00

The border is red alpaca and white CVM lamb; the background is grey CVM lamb and the yaks are of course yak! This is one of my favorite of the charts because the yaks are just so very cute. Now I'm going to work white sheep at the top, and then the body will be done. I have to stop first though because I've gotten so much done I can take a break for a couple of days to knit Addie a bumblebee hat for a House Cup game homework assignment.

llama, llama, grey pajama

2009-09-16T20:56:00.003-04:00

Here come the llamas; they grey llama yarn is indeed baby llama, spun worsted and incredibly soft and lustrous; the white background is alpaca (provided by Kathryn Coursey of the handpreparedfibers group); the dark charcoal grey in the border is CVM (from one of Marta Sullivan's lambs, she's also on the handpreparedfibers group I believe).

Next come the yaks, which are absolutely my favorite. Just wait until you see them; they are incredibly cute (and the yak yarn is wonderful; it's the dark brown in the border around the mohair goats if you glance above).

Much counting has occurred

2009-09-14T20:48:00.002-04:00

I've finished the mohair goats, started the steeks, and begun the bottom border for the llamas (in which I already made a small counting error right at the beginning, but the border is so few rows it's easy to hide that it's one stitch off of where ideally it could be).

Where's the nearest oasis?

2009-09-11T14:54:00.000-04:00

And here come the camels:

Sweater progress

2009-09-10T15:30:00.001-04:00

The sheep are knit with Romeldale and llama for the border, Corrie and Icelandic wools for the main motif area. The bunny border is knit in mohair blend and camel, the background in mid-grey CVM and the bunnies alternating white CVM and angora/silk/merino (because I only had 30 yards of that which translated to 5.5 rows). I made a chart reading error but it only really shows right at the seam so I’ve been able to hide it I think. On the first row of the camel motifs I had to rip back one row for the first time; I gave a camel 5 legs (oops). All fixed now. The camel border is knit in 2 shades of CVM, and the camel has the background in white camel (I have just enough I think) and camel camel (I mean camel colored camel down yarn).

If you're wondering why my nails are blue

2009-09-07T17:13:00.002-04:00

it's not an oxygen problem, it's the results of persistently forgetting to put my gloves on while we dyed with indigo!

3 fellow Ravelers came over to my house today and we dyed up a storm as I showed them the basics of natural dyeing; here's what I ended up with at the end:

and look, my sheep have emerged and the bunnies are emerging now!

It's on the needles!

2009-09-04T18:28:00.004-04:00

Knitting of the sweater of doom has begun:

I even used a proper tubular cast on (an extra stretch way of beginning your knitting, particularly suited to ribbing because it becomes invisible in 1x1 ribbing, with no actual beginning, just a tiny tube at the bottom), which I'd never done before, and I managed to join my knitting in the round without twisting. I've removed the temporary yarn used for the cast on, and now I've started the actual fair isle work, though that's not seen in the photo. Yes, I did have to organize the yarns, with samples of all the yarns I have more than say 60 yards of, so that I won't forget any.

And I've tried some new dyeing, this time with black bean soak water. Having read "Gathering Blue," "A Single Shard," and other YA books which touch on natural dyeing within the plot, Kayla was very confused to find out there were fast natural sources of blue dyes other than indigo and woad!

We have a 3 day weekend arriving, and on Sunday Jeffrey's going to take the 4 middle kids camping (locally, at a camp ground about 25 minutes from home). On Monday I'm going to do a natural dyeing workshop--open to anyone who wants to drop by!

Let it be known...

2009-09-02T20:01:00.003-04:00

That having spun 3 ply Dorset sock yarn and some 2 ply too,

(both photos are of the 3 ply)

and having dyed some yarn in carrot tops and plantain leaves, and some more in black bean water (photos to come soon) and mordanted up a storm for some dyeing this weekend.

And having cast on the first of Tirtze's long-promised slippers

I have also swatched

and cast on (with a proper tubular cast on no less) my sweater!

All this amidst the joy and chaos which have been the start of the Fall 2009 term for the Ravelry Harry Potter Knit/Crochet House Cup, in which I am now Hufflepuff Head of House and Herbology Assistant Professor. Plus a secret project in progress for someone.

CVM variation

2009-08-27T08:40:00.002-04:00

I'd mentioned I wanted to take this photo--it's some of the yarns all from one CVM lamb fleece, showing the color variation. The very darkest chocolate brown yarn, though, is from another Romeldale fleece; identical characteristics, just a different sheep. Yes, one sheep provided pure white, a few different silvers, and charcoal.

School's UP and LIVE

2009-08-27T08:37:00.002-04:00

School starts today for everyone except Feivel, who starts on Monday. Of course Gilad only goes today from 9-12, and even more ridiculously Addie only goes from 10:30 to 12, but officially it's the first day of school.

So when does it stop?

2009-08-24T17:58:00.003-04:00

Okay, Kayla's home, hooray. Addie gave her many hugs and kisses.

We had Sachy's seudah to show how thankful we are that for a year now he has been able to eat!

And I did finish spinning some more CVM (a little finer this time),

and I'm washing some Finn and spinning some Dorset into a 3 ply worsted sock yarn.

Why am I dis-spirited and depressed? I can't really get into all that's been going on. But I'm not happy.