So I've been knitting wrong, all wrong.....

We have a local handwork night at a coffee shop around these here parts. And one very knowledgeable momma took a peek at my finished gnome hat and immediately said:

There's something not quite right about your stitches.

Me: (nonchalantly) Of course, I'm left handed.

Her: Nooooo....they're twisted.

Me: (blank stare)

Come to find out, I'm not wrapping my yarn correctly, because I tried to learn from right-handed videos. I was wrapping the yarn the wrong way this whole time on my knit stitches, though my purls are just fine.

Luckily I'm a knitting "freak" so changing wasn't a problem. I'm happy to say that I can knit right and left handed interchangeably just fine, thank you. :) It may or may not be of interest to you, but I knit correctly when knitting right handed. I'm a lefty at heart though, so now my knit stitches aren't twisted. :)

WiP Wednesday - Knitted Gnome Hat

This is the yarn that we dyed. I am really enjoying knitting with it because it changes color almost constantly!

This is actually the second time I've knitted this hat. The first time I made it too big, so this time I cast on fewer stitches and made my decreases more regular. Progress.

Peace,

Carrie

WiP Wednesday - Finished Skirts

I had my very first official "customer" for my crafting! I'm hoping to have a little side business making sewn and knitted items. I love making them, and I love for people to have handmade items, and I love the idea of having a little extra money to throw around. :)


These are Momma-Daughter tiered skirts. They are extra twirly and full! Here's the skirt for the little girl. I made it long and with a decent bottom hem, so it will last for several years, and can be let out (waist and hem) if necessary.

The Momma Version. I love the drop waist of the first tier. I decided to pleat the tiers instead of gather them, because my sewing machine was already angry at me for sewing hundreds of yards. They aren't hanging as nicely on the rack as they do on a real person, though.

Won't they look cute together! I think so.

So I'm hoping to make this a regular thing, this little "business". As my dad says "It's about time!"

Peace,

Carrie

Just Because

I found this picture and just had to share. (Really, this picture is representative of our entire lives!) (Came back to add that it is representative of our entire lives WITH children. Funny how I said that - they really do become your whole life, past and present.)

Lela is 23 months old and Laurel (on the left) and Liv are 1 month old (and finally back to their birth weights).

We survived, no, make that flourished, with 3 children under the age of 2.

Or maybe we were just too exhausted to realized we were struggling so much.

Or maybe we really did handle newborn twins well.

I think the latter.

My Husband Is My Therapist

Mike is 37 - but has the soul of someone at least 30 years his senior. At least this is how I have always thought of him since we met. An old soul.....

He is certainly wise beyond his years.


But also acts like a teenager at times. Or middle schooler. Who knows the age of the skate punk crowd these days?



Irregardless, as he would say to annoy me, I can always be sure that he will tell me the Truth without pomp and circumstance.

He certainly knows how to rock the dirty Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation hat. And glare at me when I take his picture. Here's to hoping that he will grace me with the much anticipated Winter Beard that I love. This one was much too short lived.

And he's to hoping that he will always share his Truths, Observations and Cold-Hard Facts with me, over wine and beer on a Sunday evening in October.

Peace,

Carrie

Dyeing Yarn with Children

The pictures don't necessarily go with the words, because this isn't a tutorial. And because I didn't get pictures of all the steps. Ha!

I followed the directions from the Autumn 2009 Living Crafts. This is an amazing and beautiful magazine!

First we began with plain, undyed wool. Ours was in a ball so we wrapped it around two chairs, backs nearly pushed together to create a big yarn circle. I sat on one chair and held the other still with my feet, to keep even (as possible) tension on the yarn.

After the appropriate amount of yarn (read: my children were getting annoying) I tied a nifty figure-eight on 4 or more places in the yarn. The Living Crafts shows you how to do this very important step - it keeps the yarn from tangling.

oooh, I love this picture!

A little vinegar bath for our yarn acted to open the wool so it is receptive to the dye. We used a pretty cut-glass serving bowl. I don't know, but glass would probably be the best thing for this. I don't think I would use metal because the vinegar might react with it. ?

Laurel

The next day, we drained the water from the yarn. The kids had so much fun with this part. It's amazing to see how much water wool can hold! We actually very, very gently squeezed the yarn (too much squeezing could felt it) to remove as much of the water as possible. A previous yarn we dyed turned out a little dull, I think because there was too much water.

Liv

We put the yarn on plastic (I cut a trashbag in half) and the girls began spooning on the dye! So much fun! We used food coloring - the proportions are in the magazine, though I did make it more concentrated than recommended. Rule breaker that I am. When we paint watercolor, we only use one color at a time. This time, I had our three primary colors (red, yellow and blue) sitting inside the yarn circle. The girls took turns with each color. They had so much fun mixing the colors.

Through trial and error and error again we learned that, for us, the yarn should be spread apart and as little dye as necessary used. Too much meant that it ran onto the plastic and caused the yarn to be muddied, though still beautiful. My husband noted, during our late evening dyeing session together, that a few white or whiter spots in the yarn is nice - I agree.

Steam the yarn for a while (we did 20 minutes) then when it is cool enough, hang out to dry! The steam helps set the color.

Lela

I didn't know it would take so long to dry, but then again it was a huge mass of yarn, probably around 200 yards. Ours took 48 hours, but that just contributed to the anticipation.

We spread it out on the grass to admire. On the left is what the kids did - the right is the one that Mike and I did.

When completely dry, I rolled into a ball - man, I wished I had one of those fun yarn winders like our local yarn store, Close Knit.

macro shot by Lela

Here is the scarf (again) for my mom. The girls were so proud that they had helped.

And of course - some tips! I will be sure to refer back to this post for when we do this again, because I need my own advice. Maybe you will be able to see my pitfalls through my advice. ;)

- The yarn will need to soak overnight before dyeing it. So don't get them all excited to dye yarn right away because you won't be.

- Gather all your materials ahead of time - prepare the dyes as well if your children are young (read: 2yo twins who squirt food coloring everywhere).

- Have everything neatly laid out, because once you set jars of food coloring in front of (three) excited children, they will not wait for you to get your camera.

- Try to do this yourself before doing it with your children. Or at least go through it in your mind. We actually got this one right, and my husband and I dyed some yarn the night before over good conversation and mediocre wine.

- Don't worry about the food coloring! After we had diluted it (but really not that much) for the dye process, it washed off their hands (and faces and arms) within two handwashing. I didn't notice about the clothing, because they were wearing old clothes. And no one had any in their hair, so I don't know if it would stain such blondies as mine.

- Do wear old clothes and be outside if at all possible - aprons add to the aesthetic as well.

- Allow them to help with all the steps. Even if it means the yarn comes out muddy from overdyeing - the purpose is for you all to enjoy the process and want to do it again. Because each time you do it, they will become calmer and calmer and when the newness wears off, they will begin to appreciate it even more. And whatever comes out of it will be lovely just because they did it.

Peace,

Carrie

WiP Wednesday - More of the Same

Wow, two straight weeks of doing WiP Wednesday! Hillary, who has one of my favorite blogs, sweetly invited me to join the flickr group, and I believe that I will, after a couple more weeks of just sharing here. I want to make sure that I can make the time on a regular basis. :)

So here are a few pictures. This first one is actually the scarf from last week's post, being presented to Gran. Soon I will put up the pictures of the girls dyeing the yarn as well - we used the (simple and excellent) instructions from the most recent Living Crafts.

The post was titled "More of the Same" because, well, this week I'm knitting the same projects as last week!

Here, Lela is holding another elf hat from Living Crafts. I changed the increase from a yarn over to picking up a stitch and creating a new one. I'm hoping that will close the little gaps created by the yarn overs. I like those little purposeful holes on Laurel, but Liv has a bit bigger head so they seem more stretched.

Lela modelling again. This one is going to be a tan with black and red stripes. I'll be making it one more time for Lela, and altering the pattern quite a bit. Adding more stitches, changing the decreases and the increases and probably knitting it in the round.

Laurel showing the hat! I love the style of it - covers the ears and back of the neck very well. This yarn is just Lion wool, but I have some nicer yarns that I'm excited to play with. I have some that are nice, but have been reluctant to use in the past because my knitting is not where I want it to be. (It was "my knitting is only so-so" but my sweet friend Tanya reminded me that my knitting is better than so-so and that I was being too hard on myself. Love you Tanya and thanks for the esteem boost. :))

All the girls - Liv is holding another dishcloth in the same cotton colorway of purple and grey/brown. This time I abandoned patterns to create my own! I found the basic instructions from a basketweave and extrapolated, adding a border. So I guess it's only semi-my pattern, but still......

Thanks for looking!

Peace,

Carrie

Three, Two, One

Some pictures of what we were doing three years ago:

At a Fall Festival in the Virginia mountains.

I'm 6-7 months pregnant, but looked like I was 10 months!

Of course, we took Lela fishing! Here we were at the Conway River, VA. Look at that sweet little face!

And two years ago:

Gran wearing Liv in the wrap.

Lela and Papa - this was our last visit with him. :(

Aunt Bec wearing Liv in the wrap, too!

Lela walking through Papa's fields.

Laurel and Liv - 10 months old!

Mike wearing both babies - that is Laurel on the back.

Hmmmm, babywearing seems to be a common theme.

And one year ago:

Laurel

Lela

Liv with snake

Waldorf Co-op - Weeks 2, 3 & 4

WEEK 2

We met at the creek - it was such a beautiful day! Actually it was a bit warmer, around 80 degrees.

We had yoga and Circle, with Apple leading and doing a beautiful version of the Giant Turnip. After Circle, we did our craft - crayon drawing on turnip shaped paper.

We took a walk up the trail to a new favorite spot at the creek. The shore is more level and the mommas can sit and do handwork and chat while the children are in plain sight.

WEEK 3

Erin took her turn to lead co-op. Clover turned 9 that day, wow! Erin's rendition of the Giant Turnip was beautiful. Lots of animals were there helping, and the kids were cracking up at Erin's woofs and meows. Instead of the mouse being the last to help pull out the turnip, it was Baby Sister Rose, who whispered to the turnip gnome underground to release the turnip.

Our craft was decorating birthday hats.

Shy Laurel!

We all sang happy birthday to Clover, and enjoyed delicious butternut squash muffins with chocolate chips. Mmmmm!! Erin has the recipe over at her website - here! Afterwards Clover opened her gifts - it was so sweet to see the genuine appreciation she had for all the thoughtful presents in her honor.

WEEK 4

Well, no pictures from today! It was cold and rainy (again, as it was last week) but everyone was a bit better prepared. Tanya and Blake led Circle, and told the story together. It was very cute - Blake did a great job and was obviously confident in speaking. Impressive!

We also added a new verse, about a pumpkin, which everyone took to quickly. We are making that our new Autumn verse.

Our craft was embroidery. Tanya brought turnip shaped felt, and the kids sewed it with floss onto another piece of felt on a hoop. The creations and work of the kids, especially the older ones, were amazing.

Next week, we'll begin a new story with some new movement verses and fingerplays. I'm so happy with the structure and rhythm of co-op this year. Things are much more peaceful and relaxed.

WiP (Work in Progress) Wednesday

There is a Flickr group out there where you can share you current Works in Progress (WiPs). I think it is a wonderful idea! I have no idea how Flickr works (though I haven't tried) but I thought I would try at least to share a creative Work in Progress on Wednesdays. To keep a record and to keep me motivated!



Here we actually have 4 Works in Progress. Bad lighting in the photo because it was too difficult to move the loom outside. ;)



On the left is a sesame yellow and red striped "elf cap" from last Autumn's Living Crafts magazine. After making one I see some areas that I would tweak (for my picky children, not the pattern in general which is wonderful as is). I still haven't added the ties to the ear flaps - Lela wants to finger-knit them.


In the middle is a scarf using wool that my girls painted last week. It was such a fun process for us all! They wanted it to be a rainbow, so we took turns with the red, yellow and blue dye. They couldn't resist adding more and more dye, so the rainbow came out with a few grey clouds. Mike and I dyed another batch that was more vibrant, but not necessarily more beautiful. :) I was playing around with dropping yarn overs, and trying to duplicate a scarf that my friend had been making last year. Then, lo and behold, I found the pattern on Ravelry. I decided to just go with that pattern, which is seafoam. I'm wondering though if I couldn't have reinvented that wheel after so many tries. It was gratifying to see that I was on the right track and that does give me more confidence in my knitting skills.


Next is a waffle dishcloth - because you can never have too many dishcloths!


And everything is sitting on my loom. I'm still working on getting it balanced correctly, which is turning out to be difficult, especially when little girls like to work the treadles so vigorously! I'm currently just learning on it - so there is no specific Work there. And yes, that is toilet paper - to take up space at the beginning until the warp becomes even.

Happy Birthday Gran!

We love you and hope you have a Happy Birthday!

Love,
Mike, Carrie, Lela, Laurel and Olivia

Gran with Lela, just a few days old

Gran and Lela on her 1st Birthday!

Lela taking some of her first steps to Gran

Gran wearing Laurel, about 2 weeks old, in the pouch sling

Gran and her girls, during the Blizzard of 2009 when they came for Lela's birthday