Yarn Along -11 January 2012

You may have noticed I don't read too much.  I just don't seem to find the time to get lost in a book any more.  I get so involved in my reading that I have a hard time listening to what is going on (which is probably why I loved reading so much when I was young, but I digress).  So I don't usually read while Ella's up.  I'm still reading All Wound Up, it's such a funny book.  I just finished the chapter about the water balloon fight -you've got to read this book!

I've got the mittens all finished and they are ready to felt.  Ella's leggings are coming along nicely.  Just finishing off the bum.  They are actually a little long, but I can fold up the ankles and they will last the season and maybe next year too (if I'm really lucky).  Even with her long legs, these take no time to knit.  I'm actually almost out of knitting projects.  I might have to give in to the startitis I feel coming on and get some new projects ready to go.

Yarn Along and Handmade Holiday -14 December 2011

Yarn Along with Ginny is something for my little weed  :)

I've started Ella's new pair of longies/leggings.  They come from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitter's Almanac.  EZ gives instructions for baby size to adult size.  All you need to know is your gauge and the size of the legs you want to cover.   I'm using a new yarn from Sirdar called Crofter.  I like the way it's knitting up.

I love Trisha Romance pictures.  She has a Christmas book too called A Star for Christmas.   It's a really nice story and I just want to climb into the pictures.

Today's Handmade Holiday item is for Ella.  I got the pattern from Beneath the Rowan Tree.  I made it a bit bigger than the pattern.   I needle-felted the finishing touches.  I love needle-felting!  There will be some gnome/fairy type person to go with it.

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Yarn Along -24 August 2011

Wow, there are so many links over at Ginny's Yarn Along this week and it's only 11 am!  It's so much fun to see what the other knitters are working on.  Here's my contribution:

We've had some lovely cool weather for a few days.  I've picked up Grandma's blanket again.  It's only supposed to be a lap blanket, but I'm not sure how big to make it.  Any suggestions?  I really like the Bernat Mosaic.  I may have to get some more and try a Baby Surprise Jacket  I bet it would be beautiful.

I'm reading Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff.  I got it from the library for our holiday but didn't get around to reading it.  It's off to a slow start and needs to pick up soon.  I don't have time for reading books I don't enjoy.

Here's an easy meal to toss in the oven so you can have more knitting/reading time.  It uses a butterflied chicken, our grocery store has been carrying them lately at the same price as a whole chicken.

This chicken comes already seasoned.  They call it wild garlic and herb.  Cut up some root vegetables, I used potatoes, onions and carrots.  Cut them into largish pieces.  I left the carrots whole, just cut in the middle.  I love carrots fresh from the garden.  Sprinkle the vegetables with some oil and toss to coat.  Pile the veggies in the middle of the roasting pan and top with the chicken.  Now you have  a choice here.  You can roast the chicken at 450F for 30-40 minutes or 350 for 45 minutes.  I like the lower temperature because it makes less mess of my oven and less chance to burn the vegetables.

Ella loves dressing, so I made my usual recipe and cooked it in a foil baggie.  To make the baggie, cut off a piece of tin foil twice the size you think you need.  Fold in half lengthwise.  Then fold in half again.  Fold over the sides 2-3 times to make an envelope-type shape.  Spray with a bit of oil and fill carefully.  Fold the top closed and bake with roast for about 30 minutes.





For minimal prep time and just 45 minutes unattended in the oven, you end up with a yummy roast chicken supper.  By the way, the carrots were delicious this way.  They had an almost sweet taste to to them.  Will definitely be doing this again.

Yarn Along -27 July 2011

Busy trying to tidy-up the kitchen, we're having the in-laws over for supper.  I almost forgot it was Yarn Along day! 

I've slowed down a bit with my knitting.  It's just been so hot.  I've put away the blanket and the other project just for now.  Luckily, I have a girlfriend who's having a baby in the fall.  So now I've got the perfect excuse to make my favourite baby pattern.  I love to knit Elizabeth Zimmerman's February Baby Sweater.  It's so quick, easy and pretty.  This is about an hour's worth of knitting.  It's from EZ's Knitter's Almanac, a book I can't recommend enough!  We're not reading much, just bedtime books really.  We're just taking it easy and enjoying the summer and trying not to melt (though the last two days have been just gorgeous).

Yarn Along -29 June 2011

I have a new project to share this week for Ginny's Yarn Along.  I know what you are thinking, Paula really doesn't need a new project.  But next week I'll share with you the reason why I needed to start this project.

This is a really cool version of an Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern (big surprise I know).  It's a blanket made from the centre out and with short row corners.  I really love the way it is knitting.  I could see making a lot of these  :)  And yes, those balls are the same colour/dye lot.  They were just wound from different spots in the colour pattern.  If I was using these for socks I would have picked two balls that looked more matched.  But for this pattern it doesn't matter.




I'm reading a sewing book, Sewing Clothes Kids Love: Sewing Patterns and Instructions for Boys' and Girls' Outfits.   Ella would absolutely love anything in this book.  It also shows how I'm not creative.  A creative person would look at a book like this and think of all the wonderful things they could make.  I look at it and see pictures to copy and wonder how I will ever find material like the picture.

Yarn Along -20 April 2011

This week's Yarn Along is more of a yarn along-to-be.  I'm writing a couple new patterns.  The first is a Bitty Baby sized February Baby Sweater.  It's from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac: The Commemorative Edition.  If you are a knitter and don't already own this book, buy it now!!  It has a great range of patterns and Elizabeth's philosophy can make you a much more adventurous knitter.  She has a wonderful way of encouraging you to move past the pattern and create the knitting you actually want.   For the doll sweater I'm using some leftover sock wool.  It's a wool/cashmere blend, I forget the name.  It's leftover from Grandma's socks.  Very soft and cozy.

I'm also creating a February Baby Sweater for Ella.  There are patterns for baby sweaters and lady sweaters but Ella's size seems to be missing.  I've got some beautiful blue to make Ella a sweater.  It's hard to see the colour in the picture but the name is Marina.  It's an acrylic but feels beautiful, so I'm fine with that.

The other ball of yarn in the picture is the stripped yarn I bought for Ella's Socktopus.  The Socktopus only used a couple of metres of yarn, so I told Ella I'd make her a pair of socks to match.

If you haven't guessed yet, I'm trying to get enough knitting projects together for our weekend in Scarborough.   Poor Daddy has to stay home and take care of things here.  I don't want to run out of projects like the last time we were at Auntie Belinda's -not good when Momma runs out of knitting :)  (especially on a weekend when things will be closed a lot).

This week we are reading Easter Story, The.  This is a very good telling of the Easter story for sensitive, young children like Ella.  It doesn't dwell so much on His death, as the reason for it.  Some children's books are too intense for Ella.

Yarn Along -22 December 2010

Almost forgot to join Ginny in her Yarn Along this week.  Well it's still Wednesday, so here it is.

We're reading from Ella's Family Bible Classics.  We'll be reading this story tomorrow.  On my needles I have something for me!!!  It's a cashmere mobius.  Elizabeth Zimmerman knew what she was doing when she invented knitting a mobius.

We were making cookies again today.  Here's my princess doing most of the work.  Don't worry, she doesn't touch the Kitchenaid when it's moving.

It's an invasion of hedgehogs.  Ella helped put the chocolate sprinkles.  These are very easy and yummy.

More Elizabeth Zimmerman

I was lucky to have a couple of balls left over from my February Lady Sweater.  I whipped up a quick February Baby Sweater -the sweater that started it all.   This is my favourite go-to baby sweater, especially if I know the baby is to be a girl.  It's knit from the top down and practically seamless.  I made Ella a couple of these and they fit so nicely and are super quick.  This sweater is in the Knitter's Almanac.
You may think this is crazy, but this sweater is getting put away for Ella's babies.  I have a couple of baby surprise jackets finished to put away too.

February Lady Sweater

You may have noticed that I love, love, love Elizabeth Zimmerman patterns.   So much so that I even bought another copy of The Knitter's Almanac the last time we were in Toronto.  It's the commemorative edition and has great new pictures.  It's also in hard cover and likely to last longer than my original paperback one.  I can't encourage you enough to pick up this book if you love to knit.  There's a pattern for just about everything, and Elizabeth is so encouraging.  She wants you to be a fearless knitter and learn that you don't have to be tied to a pattern.

The best part of the new edition is the February Baby Sweater (best baby girl sweater ever) has been turned into a February Lady Sweater.   I couldn't wait to get this started and the trip to Picton was a great start.  Well here it is!!!!  I was finished by the next Tuesday -yep, a sweater in one week.  It is such an easy knit.  I made one main change.  Instead of the row of eyelet increases, I continued the raglan increases until there were enough stitches.    It fits wonderfully.  Since it's made from the top down that means the sleeves and body are the right length for me.

I used some old yarn that I've been hanging on to for a very long time.  It's leftover from another sweater but I've been waiting for the right pattern.  The yarn came from Eatons and was their lovely Lady Fair.  Yes I know it's acrylic but it's beautiful.  And sometimes you need an easy to care for sweater that won't make you itchy.  It's 'sayelle' sized wool.  The gauge sizing is my only complaint with this sweater pattern.  In her chapter about aran sweaters,  Elizabeth Zimmerman complains about the habit of sweater designers/companies saying 'certain number of stitches over pattern'.  This is such a hard way to measure gauge.  It is easier to match gauge given over stocking stitch.  Well, the pattern gauge is given over the lace pattern.  I used a 4 1/2mm circular (as suggested by my yarn).   I used about 10 50g balls.  I don't know for sure because a couple of the balls were part-balls left from the other sweater.

I'm probably going to make myself another sweater out of some 'real' wool.  I'll likely wait until the next time we're in Bowmanville and see what new loveliness Tina has in store.  This sweater would be luxurious in a merino/alpaca blend.

Go make yourself one.  You won't be disappointed!

My Latestet Knitting Obsession

Any one have any idea what these knitted items should be?  They are knitted in one piece, many on the bias.  It's reversible and has button holes on both sides.

These are Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jackets.  After a couple quick folds the odd shapes above turn into the most adorable baby sweaters.  I've mentioned before my love of anything by Elizabeth Zimmerman.   This pattern is so easy and I can finish one sweater on the trip to Bowmanville -always a bonus.  What is really cool is that you change sweater size by changing the gauge of wool used.  These sweaters are newborn size and made 6 stitches to the inch.  The year old size is made with 5 stitches to the inch.  In fact, apparently,  you should be able to make an adult size sweater with 2.5 stitches to the inch.  I may try to make one for my Mom, she loves big, heavy sweaters.

If you knit for new babies and want an easy, quick sweater give the Baby Surprise Jacket a try.  It's good even if you don't know if the baby is a boy or girl yet.  The button holes get made on both sides, so you just sew the buttons onto the correct size while closing up the extra holes.  This also ensures the right placement of the buttons.