I want an alpaca

I really want an alpaca. I mean an entire herd of them. They're soft and fluffy, plus they're sweet! Fiber animals and pets, all in one hardy package. And they have long eyelashes, which make them look extra cute.

Here's a quote from the site Alpacas

The Alpaca personality. Alpaca are gentle, calm, and make affectionate pets. They are social, herd animals - enjoy company - and communicate with soft humming sounds. They have a serene manner, yet they often seem to be torn between curiosity and shyness, with curiosity usually winning the inner struggle. These intelligent animals are easy to herd, can easily be trained to halter, and can be handled by anyone, even children.

Awwwww, a baby!



This is it, my herd. I wish.



I don't know if I would kiss my alpacas. Not on the lips anyways.



Is it a face only a mother could love? I can't help it, I think he's cute.




alpacaalpacaalpacaalpacaalpaca alpaca!

My Solstice Tree!

Whee, my first tree ever! And incidentally, it is also my husband and son's first tree. Even though I decorated it.

You know, the presents were lonely. They needed the protection that only a tree can offer.
;^)

Christmas Presents! Hats!

Let me show you what I worked on all last week. They're wrapped now, and I'm going to give them to the victims, err, lucky recipients this Saturday.

This first one is for one friend's 4-yr-old boy.





I love this hat. I tried it on everyone (here I am modelling it). It always fit. It fit my baby, it fit me, it fit my friend Dave's extra large cranium.



And this one is for my other friend's 4-yr-old daughter. Yes, I did run out of pink. I made it a little shorter to try to avoid a problem and I still ended up having to finish with the black. Because the extra 5 yards of yarn I needed is not worth 6 bucks to me, and I have no other use for pink.

What have we here? Progress pics?? Woo-hoo!




Finished:


With a ball inside it:


See the ugly black dot?


And me in the mirror:



I used this pattern.
That Chocolate's Gone Straight To Your Ribs Hat

I cast on with 120 (132 for the cabled one, but I would only use 110 in the future) and I started with #6 needles and moved to #7 at the colorwork. I think 120 works fine for anyone's hat, but it's so stretchy I would save myself some trouble and just cast on 100 for a child's hat next time and only 110 even for a grown man. The blue stripes were with Paton's Merino, but the rest is Peru DK Luxury.

Did I mention that this is now my favorite hat pattern?

I used Peru DK Luxury yarn (luvluvluvluvluvluv this yarn!) which is apparently only available at A.C.Moore.
I looked it up like crazy online, and even the supposed manufacturer (I got the manufacturer name from the A.C.Moore website since it wasn't even on the label) did not list this yarn on their website.

When oh when will they get more of the black in? I need it!

Acorn Hat

So I wanted to try making an acorn hat after I made the leaf hat. I used the same decrease shaping, but instead of making a leaf brim and picking up stitches I just worked in moss stitch for the first couple of inches.

The only real impediment was finding a yarn that had the right colors and wouldn't break the bank. I ended up with an acrylic (Caron Wintuk) that was thicker than it looked (and felt like cotton, oddly enough). I did not anticipate the thickness, mostly because I was too stupid to look at the label when I bought it.
Even though I took the number of cast-on stitches way down it was still kind of big. I used the same size needles too, so it was also more of a "hat" hat than the stretchy toboggan-ish hat I was aiming at.

I made it for a friend's baby boy. She loved it. Her husband loved it. The boy tolerated it. I guess I did alright.





And my boy models it:

Latest Diaper Cover

This is the latest. It's the first (that didn't turn into a skirt) using Curly Purly's pleated waistband.

Sorry no progress pics.






And the action shot:

Swimming Lesson!

Splash splash!

Diaper Cover turned Skirt

I started this as a diaper cover. Well I should say that I saw this yarn and just had to have it. I then justified its purchase by starting a diaper cover...but then I thought "this seems like it might be too thin. I don't want to take it all apart but how can I deal with the frustration if it really is too thin???" So I switched gears and finished it as a skirt for a friend instead.


(In progress, on my workspace)







Thanks to Curly Purly for the pleated waistband option!
Curly Purly Patterns

Thanks to Punk_Knitters for the original diaper cover pattern!
Punk_Knitters

I made the skirt part by doing a {yo, k1, yo} at equal intervals. (For this it was 10-stitch groups on the first row). Every other row I knit across in the round. On every other pattern row, I also did {sl 1, k2tog, psso} evenly spaced between the increases. This helped keep it from growing too fast. At the bottom I ended the pattern with the increase row and followed with 3 rows of moss stitch.

Coordinating Leaves

I made this poncho a long while back (there's a couple of progress pics but no finished pics). I used the leftover yarn to make a cute hat for my boy.

So...I like to wear him in a sling when I walk to the coffeeshop and as I was getting ready to go a lady looked at me, laughing a little, and said we were too precious. And that I better have a picture of the ensemble. That set me to thinking, do I have any pics of us like this??? So I went home and took this pic right then in the big bathroom mirror.





There are leaves on the brim of the hat, and on the side panels of the poncho.

Note the "turtle" face my son is making.

Fall

We had a wretchedly dry summer and fall here, but at least the autumn colors were pretty.
This is my walkway in early November.

Halloween

What was I supposed to be?
Well, I was supposed to be a pirate. And Sebastian was a sea turtle but unfortunately he was too sleepy to pose.



The lovely demoness beside me is my neighbor, Heather.

Ever seen these?

Check out these amazing moths. They're commonly called Hummingbird Moths, but I think they might be even bigger than hummingbirds! And yes, I used to know their official names but I'm too slack to look it up right now.







They were in my neighbor's yard this past summer. I planted those plants (hedychium coronarium, commonly known as butterfly ginger) when we were still roommates. Apparently the moths really love them because Heather told me that she continued to see them most evenings if she looked.

Hummingbird moths are so cool!

Some new stuff for Sebastian & Mama

Alright, I got some more things finished and ready to show off.


Baby Hat for a newborn (in progress). No, I don't have a newborn anymore but I wanted to "taste" the pattern in this yarn first, ok?



The finished newborn hat.


If you want the hat, it's here:
KnitList


Poncho for me in progress. This also has a leaf pattern. It is finished but I haven't gotten around to pestering my husband to take my picture yet.


Wanna make your own?
Falling Leaves Poncho


A shirt I made a while back and forgot to post pics.



Booties! My own pattern (sorry for the dimness, didn't want to wake him up). I made them to look like tennis shoes.



Finished hat for my boy. I just used a bigger gauge and it was perfect!



How about a big grin?




Did I have any pics of him wearing this diaper cover before?




Ok, done.

Picture Time!

Okay, I reckon it's about time I got some pics of my work up here. There's a few so for this one I'm just going to link them.

My husband and I in our handmade costumes two years ago. I made mine and he made his.
Gypsy & Robot

I also hemmed and sewed snaps onto a piece of fabric for our roommate. Unfortunately I was down to the wire on the snaps and I hate handsewing anyway, and she was forced to resort to safety pins during the party.
Demeter

I made her boyfriend's vest and pants too. They've since gotten married, but they were still dating in this picture.
Pirate

I made this shirt while I was pregnant in Hawaii. It has drawstrings in the back. I thought it might have enough ease to still fit me in December, when I returned to my home 6 months pregnant...haha, yeah right. But at least I got to enjoy it after the baby was born, and will wear it again this winter!
Crushed Velvet Shirt

Here's my little boy modeling his fleece "Super Sebastian" diaper cover.
Super Sebastian

These are some diaper covers and a "wetbag" I made. I still haven't gotten up the nerve to really try the wetbag, but the diaper covers work great.
Diaper Covers & Wetbag

Here's my boy modeling one of the diaper covers from the previous picture. Just for the record, using food dyes for wool clothes has been a bit of a disappointment for me. Although the colors appear to fade only very slowly in the garment, they never fail to "bleed" when I handwash them (in cold water).
Kool-Aid Dyed Soaker

This is a diaper cover I have since finished. I gave it longer legs so it looks more like shorts. But I am never making a diaper cover with stripes again! Well....maybe just one stripe wouldn't be so bad...
Too Many Stripes

I couldn't let this hapless doll wear hideous '80s mismatched neons anymore! (I also made her a matching thong ;^)
Cottage Chic

Favorite Websites

www.gardenweb.com
Wonderful gardening forum, also has online trading.

www.knitty.com
Cutting edge knitting patterns for free!

www.mlminspirations.com/patterns/index.html
This is a blog. All I can say is, Ms. MacLean has some keen fashion sense and the skills to translate that sense into amazing knit & crochet patterns.

www.craftster.org
Neat site with lots of pictures and how-to's.

www.amitymama.com
Fun forum for the slightly crunchy to the very crunchy. My favorite is the sewing forum.

www.babycenter.com
I have to admit, I mostly like this forum for the gossip. <8^9>

www.diaperpages.com/soaker.php
I've linked a couple of these directly, but it's a great starting point for making soakers and diaper covers.

www.livejournal.com/community/punk_knitters/110889.html
My current favorite knit soaker, knit in the round. I haven't tried any purchase patterns. Mostly because I'm too cheap.

www.tickleturdle.com/Wraps.htm
This is a neat wrap, and it makes up fast. It's my current favorite crochet soaker.

First Blog

Hi, this is my first blog. I think I will probably be mostly devoting it to my hobbies, so you can expect some fiberarts soon. Oh and of course pics of my cutie modeling some of those fiberarts!

Lystessa